DALTON, Ga. - For Sandra Reyes, Georgia was home since she was 9, the place where she graduated from high school and became involved in her community.
And where the reality sank in that she was an illegal immigrant.
"I didn't realize what it really meant to be undocumented until I was about to graduate from high school," the 25-year-old said in a telephone interview from Dallas. "So I really never thought I was going to have to leave Dalton."
She and her husband, Ignacio, 31, left Dalton four months ago in the face of tougher immigration enforcement and high unemployment rates, she said.
"The situation in Dalton is not the most ideal for undocumented immigrants," said Reyes, who recently graduated from an online college with a bachelor's degree in psychology. "You never know when you might get stopped and end up being deported."
The Reyeses are not alone. There are no hard numbers on how many illegal immigrants have left the Dalton-Whitfield County area because no one knows how many were there to start with. But some in the community say evidence points to an exodus of Hispanic immigrants at least over the past two years.
"Anecdotally, many feel that many of the male population within the Hispanic community may have left looking for jobs, and that's certainly what most any of us would do," said Brian Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce.
Daniel Luna, a Mexico native and music teacher in Dalton who's here legally, said he has lost students because they became unemployed or were deported.
"It's almost a given that, if you get stopped for any reason and you are driving without a license, you are going to get arrested and if (you) are in the country illegally, deported," he said.
"A lot of my students have offered to pay more if I teach them in Chattanooga," he said. "Others often miss class because they can't find anyone to drive them."
Previously, Dalton Mayor David Pennington said the city picked up less garbage, that more apartment buildings and trailer parks are empty and that more businesses have closed.
"Whether that is due to any kind of (out) migration or just the general economy is hard to measure," Anderson said.
Because the local Hispanic student population has not decreased, the belief is that the children and perhaps their mothers and grandmothers have stayed behind, he said.
MORE POLICE ATTENTION?
Luna and Reyes say there have been more police roadblocks, especially in areas with high concentrations of Hispanics.
Seventy-one percent of the people arrested for driving without a license in Dalton from August 2009 through July 2010 were Hispanic, police records show.
Since drivers must produce a Social Security number and proof of citizenship or legal status, people in the country illegally can't get a driver's license in Georgia or Tennessee.
But Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier said police only set up road checks for seat-belt or drunken-driving enforcement operations.
"We don't discriminate based on race, gender or ethnicity," he said. "I don't know why that perception would be out there."
Frazier said people don't get pulled over simply for driving without a license.
"They have to break some traffic violation," he said.
Anyone who feels discriminated against "can file a complaint with our department, and it will be investigated," he said.
As of July 31, the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office had identified 422 people for deportation in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, compared with 379 in the previous fiscal year.
But Jan Pourquoi, an immigrant from Belgium and long-time Dalton resident, doesn't think there's enough immigration enforcement taking place.
"If anything, it's symbolic to appease people," he said. "What we need is mandatory use of E-verify for all employers."
E-verify is a federal database employers can use to verify that potential hires are eligible to work.
Pourquoi said illegal immigration hurts the community by depressing wages, pushing the middle class out of the city and lowering the tax base through the use of uneducated, low-skill workers.
"I don't blame the poor family trying to make a living, but somewhere down the line you have to be objective about it," he said.
Living in Dallas now, Sandra Reyes said she's looking for master's degree programs and possibly a waitress job, while her husband is doing odd jobs.
Hoping that federal immigration reform law eventually will give them the option to legalize their status, the couple is "focusing on starting our own business and waiting," she said.
"But making plans to buy a home or have children will have to wait," she said.
Continue reading by following these links to related stories:
Article: Immigration in reverse
Article: Georgia lawmakers support repealing birthright citizenship