ATLANTA — A recent study from the Migrant Policy Institute showed which parts of the United States had the highest unauthorized immigrant populations and Georgia made it into the top 10.

According to the MPI study, Georgia was ranked sixth highest for unauthorized immigrants, with 479,000 in the state as of mid-2023.

The study said Georgia accounts for roughly 3% of all migrants in the United States.

MPI also reported that as of 2023, Georgia accounted for about 5% of all children in the U.S. with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent, a total of 240,000 that year.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

That number, nearly 500,000 unauthorized immigrants, is a concern for Savannah U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter.

On Thursday, Carter requested the U.S. Department of Homeland Security send federal troops into Atlanta to help manage immigration needs.

TRENDING STORIES:

The request to Sec. Kirsti Noem’s department cited the MPI report, with Carter saying a sharp increase of migrants in the state meant there was a crucial need for local support from DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“That represents a 45% increase since 2018 in the number of people in Georgia living in open defiance of the law,” Carter said in his letter to Noem, in part. “By deploying more federal officers, DHS and ICE would provide crucial support to local and state partners. Increasing enforcement presence would help deter unlawful entry, disrupt illegal networks, and uphold the rule of law.”

As Channel 2 Action News reported Thursday evening, before Carter’s letter to DHS, there had not been any indication that the federal government may send troops to Atlanta.

The unauthorized immigrant population likely continued to grow strongly through mid-2024, based on high border encounters and continued inflows of migrants permitted entry pending a future U.S. immigration court date or granted humanitarian parole. Beyond mid-2024, that growth likely stalled, and in 2025, may have even reversed based on the very low numbers of U.S.-Mexico border encounters, heavy immigration enforcement inside the country, and an overall atmosphere intended to convince would-be migrants not to come and current unauthorized immigrants to leave.

—  Migrant Policy Institute

Here’s the full ranking of top states for unauthorized immigrant populations, according to MPI:

California – 2,910,000Texas – 1,966,000Florida – 1,223,000New York – 836,000Illinois – 588,000Georgia 479,000New Jersey – 476,000North Carolina – 450,000Massachusetts – 388,000Maryland – 373,000

The study said, based on available data for 2023, that there were about 4.05 million unauthorized immigrants in the rest of the U.S.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

©2025 Cox Media Group