Georgia

Rethinking the U.S.-Georgia Relationship

Published

10 months ago

April 24, 2025

Rethinking the U.S.-Georgia Relationship

If the U.S. Senate wants to avoid another tragic crisis like Ukraine along Russia’s periphery, it needs to stop encouraging Moscow’s neighbors into unnecessarily confrontational relationships with Russia. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took steps towards last month when they advanced the MEGOBARI Act. This legislation is part of an effort to incentivize Georgia to limit its economic relations with Russia and more thoroughly align itself with the transatlantic approach to the war in Ukraine, regardless of the potential repercussions to Georgia’s economy and security. If enacted, the actual effect will be to push Georgia into deeper relationships with non-Western partners while seriously contradicting the Trump administration’s efforts to reevaluate American commitments across Europe and reestablish working relations with Russia to bring peace to Ukraine through a negotiated long-term settlement.

At the end of March 2025, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the “Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act”. According to the bill’s cosponsors, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Jim Risch (R-ID), the legislation would support “the people of Georgia as their government continues its violent assaults on peaceful protestors and reaffirms U.S. support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration.” Chairman Risch specified that the “U.S. supports the Georgian people as they struggle for the right to self-determination” and that this bill “will give the U.S. tools to help Georgians restore fairness to their political system.”

The “MEGOBARI” Act, as the bill is commonly known and which translates to “friend” in the Georgian language, was first introduced in the last session of Congress by the former chairman of the Helsinki Commission, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). Another, much more severe, piece of legislation also under discussion is the Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act, which would effectively prohibit U.S. officials from recognizing the current Georgian government while simultaneously declaring that former president Salome Zourabichvili is the only legitimate leader of the country following contested election last October.

MEGOBARI includes a dozen statements of policy that almost all focus on the U.S. supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, civil society, democratic values, and its constitutionally-mandated intention to pursue EU and NATO integration. Nevertheless, if Tbilisi were “to combat Russian aggression” and enact its own and enforce Western sanctions on Russia, the legislation calls on the U.S. to review and, “as appropriate,” expand its security and defense assistance to Georgia. It does not, however, promise actually to defend Georgia if the policies being advocated lead to a new war with Russia—any more than the US defended Georgia during the war of 2008. It is wickedly irresponsible to try to force another country into profoundly dangerous actions when you have no intention of saving them from the consequences.

The act also calls for U.S. government investigation into any Georgian officials that have been involved in “blocking Euro-Atlantic integration” or who have undermined “peace, security, stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity” of Georgia and to apply property and visa sanctions upon those deemed in violation.

As the Quincy Institute laid out in a recent policy brief, as a result of the Ukraine War and Russia’s continued support for Georgia’s two separatist territories, Tbilisi is facing an extremely precarious security environment. To be sure, the ruling Georgian Dream party has at the same time—sometimes ruthlessly—advanced its own domestic political agenda, including by enacting legislation to target external funding of civil society organizations (CSOs) and media as well as threatening to ban political parties and politicians associated with the former president Mikheil Saakashvili. The State Department has criticized these measures.

Nevertheless, if legislation such as MEGOBARI is passed into law, it will have profoundly negative effects on American (and likely European) relations with Georgia and their ability to encourage the very developments such bills and their backers seek to engender in the country.

Whether the U.S. likes it or not, Georgia’s economy is strongly linked to and dependent on trade with Russia. In 2024 total trade turnover between Russia and Georgia amounted to around $2.5 billion, or 11 percent, of Georgia’s total trade volume, behind only Turkey. While Georgia’s total trade figures with the U.S. were around $1.9 billion last year, Russia’s intake of total Georgian exports is over four times larger than that of the U.S. and is critical for key sectors such as wine and agricultural products.

Remittances from Russia have also long been an important factor, as many thousands of Georgians journey to Russia for better work opportunities. While the total share from Russia is decreasing, some $540 million in remittances were sent from the country in 2024 out of a total of $3.4 billion, down from $1.5 billion the preceding year. Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, significant numbers of Russians seeking refuge fled into Georgia, motivated by Tbilisi’s offers of visa-free travel and work privileges for up to one year for Russian citizens. Since 2022, these “relocants” have registered some 30,000 businesses and contributed to the Georgian economy (though their relative wealth when compared to their Georgian peers has intensified local inequalities).

From a security perspective, the Georgian government has been in an uncertain position vis-a-vis Russia since at least 2008, when Saakashvili’s government undertook actions in the breakaway region of South Ossetia that contributed to a direct conflict between the Russian and Georgian armed forces. Following this, Moscow recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the other breakaway republic, and Tbilisi severed diplomatic ties. Since then, Russia has increased its military footprint in the 20 percent of Georgian territory that these two de facto states exercise control over.

Like Ukraine, Georgia was also offered a pathway to future NATO membership earlier that year at the alliance’s Bucharest Summit. But, just as in Ukraine, Georgia’s NATO partners did not enter the fray when the Russian army was mere miles outside Tbilisi. The U.S. and Europe must recognize the immense recklessness and irresponsibility of encouraging countries on Russia’s borders to effectively challenge Russia when the West has zero intention of actually defending them from the potential consequences.

Since coming to power in 2012, the Georgian Dream party has explicitly sought to engage in “firm and principled” dialogue with the Russian government, believing, rightly, that there is no realistic military solution to its ethno-political conflicts and Moscow’s utilization of that discord for its own ends.

While still backing Kiev in international organizations and supporting Ukraine on a humanitarian level, the Georgian government has pursued an exceedingly cautious foreign and security policy since the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine.

Simultaneously, the Georgian Dream government has pursued domestic policies that seek to limit foreign financing of CSOs, media outlets, and political parties while stigmatizing those that accept such funding. While it is common in the U.S. and Europe for these policies to be used as justification for labelling the Georgian Dream’s rule as akin to “Russian-style tyranny” or even asserting that it is a “Russian puppet,” the reality is more nuanced. While the Georgian government may certainly be seeking to centralize power and reduce political competition, many in Washington would be hard pressed to morally justify why legislation such as MEGOBARI are necessary for Georgia when its neighbor, Azerbaijan, pursues much more dictatorial policies at home and a “multi-vector” foreign policy abroad and is by and large accepted, if not embraced.

If put into law, MEGOBARI would likely further alienate the Georgian government from the U.S. and limit America’s ability to seriously influence local developments at a time when Washington is beginning to pursue a new policy toward Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors. Part of the risk of such legislation is that by effectively choosing sides in internal Georgian political processes and encouraging sanctions on individuals with broad justifications, the U.S. will inadvertently incentivize the Georgian Dream to pursue deeper relations with other, non-Western partners.

If Washington is truly fearful of Tbilisi drifting into the grasps of Moscow, Beijing, or Tehran, then it should pursue a policy of strategic empathetic engagement and linkage with the Georgian government. Doing so will not guarantee a subservient foreign policy from Tbilisi nor will it ensure that they dramatically reduce their relations with those other capitals. What it will do, however, is offer the U.S. the ability to sensibly influence decisions made in Georgia by engaging in diplomatic bargaining.

It is clear that under the Georgian Dream government Tbilisi is set on pursuing a foreign policy of diversification and hedging—what is widely called among former Soviet countries “multi-vectorism.” In an increasingly insecure world, not to mention region, such a policy makes eminently good sense from a Georgian perspective. Rather than seeking to reverse this trend, the U.S. may be able to achieve strategic benefits and, importantly, positively affect the human rights environment and state of democracy in Georgia by pursuing a more practical policy towards that country.

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Georgia

Georgia Army veteran deported to Jamaica after ICE detention

Published

10 hours ago

February 17, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Army veteran deported to Jamaica after ICE detention

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A man who once defended America now waits in a foreign country, seeking justice from the same system he fought to protect.

On Monday, Army veteran Godfrey Wade said he’s still getting used to his new life after being deported to Jamaica.

On Feb. 5, Wade, 66, was deported to Jamaica after serving roughly six months in ICE detention.

“They just dump you in a country you haven’t been. I haven’t been to this country in 30 years,” said Wade in an interview with Atlanta News First.

Wade’s attorney, Tony Kozycki, said Wade legally immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager. He served in the U.S. Army for four years in the 1980s before starting a family in Georgia.

“I, for one, loved the uniform,” he recalled about his time in the 7^th Infantry Division, serving in Germany during the Cold War. “The discipline and the consistency of what that institution represents — be all you can be.”

After his military service, Wade, a green card holder, started a life in Georgia and worked in food services, including at H&F Burgers at The Battery in Atlanta, and most recently at the Georgia State Capitol.

In September 2025, Kozycki said Wade was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal. He also did not have a valid license.

During a traffic stop by the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, Wade was taken into ICE custody due an immigration hold.

Kozycki said that immigration hold was tied to a missed court hearing from 2014 and convictions from nearly 20 years ago.

Kozycki said Wade did not know about that 2014 hearing because he never received a Notice to Appear in 2012.

In documents provided to Atlanta Never First, on Feb. 7, 2012, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a Notice to Appear, ordering Wade to show cause for why he should not be removed from the United States.

The document indicated Wade was served in person. However, that box appears to be scratched out, and instead a box “by regular mail” was marked.

The letter was addressed not to a residence but to the immigration court at “US ICE 180 Spring Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303.”

“You’re supposed to have notice that you have to be there,” Kozycki explained. “That never happened. They then start sending letters to an address that was not associated with him.”

The hearing proceeded without him in 2014. Wade didn’t learn about the missed court date until 2019, when he attempted to renew his green card.

The underlying issues triggering the deportation proceeding dated back even further. According to the Notice to Appear, Wade was convicted on Jan. 31, 2008, of simple assault in violation of Georgia law, and on Jan. 28, 2008, of deposit account fraud, from a bounced check, both from Douglas County Superior Court.

Wade had since repaid the fraudulent check and resolved the assault charge through a plea deal, according to Kozycki.

Kozycki argued these old cases should not have resulted in a deportation, especially given Wade’s decades of lawful residency, military service and community contributions.

After his September 2025 traffic stop, Wade was transported to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

Wade says he never received a chance to go before a judge and argue his case to stay in the United States.

“I’m not asking for more for myself. I want what I just deserve, no more, no less,” Wade said. “And if so be the case, I put my trust in the justice system of this great country of America.”

Congressman David Scott, who represents Rockdale County, where Wade is from, wrote directly to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, pleading for Wade to have his case heard before a judge. The letter went unanswered.

From Jamaica, Wade faces an uphill battle to reclaim his life. His family — including six children and grandchildren — are devastated by the separation.

“It weighs very heavily on our family,” said his fiancée, April Watkins.

Financial burdens compound the emotional toll, with Wade now starting over with nothing but “the clothes on my back.”

His family started a community fundraiser to help offset the legal fees and the financial burden to live away from Georgia.

“When people fall in love with this country, we really love this country, and we want this country to love us back,” he said.

Requests to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment on why Wade was not afforded a hearing before deportation went unanswered.

Wade’s case highlights a broader truth, according to his attorney.

“Godfrey Wade’s case is really a highlight that if we are going to do this, we need to do it the right way,” Kozycki said. “If we need to fix our immigration system, we need to take great care in doing it.”

Kozycki is urging members of the public to contact lawmakers, state and federal, about Wade’s case.

The family launched an online petition to try to stop Wade’s deportation.

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Georgia

Opening statements held in the trial of a Georgia high school shooting suspect’s father

Published

22 hours ago

February 16, 2026

Press Room

Opening statements held in the trial of a Georgia high school shooting suspect’s father

A man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school should be held responsible for providing the weapon despite warnings about alleged threats his son made, a prosecutor said Monday.

The trial of Colin Gray began Monday in one of several cases around the country where prosecutors are trying to hold parents responsible after their children are accused in fatal shootings.

Gray faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and numerous counts of second-degree cruelty to children related to the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.

“This is not a case about holding parents accountable for what their children do,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said in his opening statement. “This case is about this defendant and his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others.”

Prosecutors argue that amounts to cruelty to children, and second-degree murder is defined in Georgia law as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children.

Investigators have said Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school northeast of Atlanta that is attended by 1,900 students.

But Brian Hobbs, an attorney for Colin Gray, said the shooting’s planning and timing “were hidden by Colt Gray from his father. That’s the difference between tragedy and criminal liability. You cannot hold someone criminally responsible for failing to predict what was intentionally hidden from them.”

With a semiautomatic rifle in his book bag, the barrel sticking out and wrapped in poster board, Colt Gray boarded the school bus, investigators said. He left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the gun and then shot people in a classroom and hallways, they said.

Smith told the jury that Colin Gray’s daughter was in lockdown at her middle school and texted her father that there had been a shooting at the high school. When law enforcement arrived at Gray’s home, he met them in the garage and “without any prompting, he blurts out, ‘I knew it,’” Smith said.

Smith said that in September 2021, Colt Gray used a school computer to search the phrase, “how to kill your dad.” School resource officers were then sent to the home, but it was determined to be a “misunderstanding,” Smith said.

Sixteen months before the shooting, in May 2023, law enforcement acted on a tip from the FBI after a shooting threat was made online concerning an elementary school. The threat was traced to a computer at Gray’s home, Smith said.

Colin Gray was told about the threat and was asked whether his son had access to guns. Gray replied that he and his son “take this school shooting stuff very seriously,” according to Smith. Colt Gray denied that he made the threat and said that his online account had been hacked, Smith said.

That Christmas, Colin Gray gave his son the gun as a gift and continued to buy accessories after that, including “a lot of ammunition,” Smith said.

Colin Gray knew his son was obsessed with school shooters, even having a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, prosecutors have said. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent had testified that the teen’s parents had discussed their son’s fascination with school shooters but decided that it was in a joking context and not a serious issue.

Three weeks before the shooting, Gray received a chilling text from his son: “Whenever something happens, just know the blood is on your hands,” according to Smith.

Colin Gray was also aware his son’s mental health had deteriorated and had sought help from a counseling service weeks before the shooting, an investigator testified.

“We have had a very difficult past couple of years and he needs help. Anger, anxiety, quick to be volatile. I don’t know what to do,” Colin Gray wrote about his son.

But Smith said Colin Gray never followed through on concerns about getting his son admitted to an in-patient facility.

The trial is being held in Winder, in Barrow County, where the shooting happened. The defense asked for a change of venue because of pretrial publicity, and prosecutors agreed. The judge kept the trial in Winder but decided to bring in jurors from nearby Hall County to hear the case. Jurors were selected last week.

___

Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia.

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Georgia

Kirby Smart Hires Former Georgia Bulldogs Defensive Back to Football Staff

Published

1 day ago

February 16, 2026

Press Room

Kirby Smart Hires Former Georgia Bulldogs Defensive Back to Football Staff

The Georgia Bulldogs have added a former player to their defensive staff ahead of the 2026 college football season.

The 2026 offseason is in full swing as teams across the country iron out their rosters and ensure take they have a full coaching staff in place before the regular season begins. One team that has been diligently at work in assembling its coaching staff is the Georgia Bulldogs.

The Bulldog have had a plethora of additions and departures thus far, and have made another addition to their defensive staff. According to report, the Dawgs have added Maurce Smith as a defensive analyst ahead of the 2026 season.

Smith’s name may ring a bell to Georgia has, as he was once a player for Kirby Smart. The defensive back began his career with the Alabama Crimson Tide, but transferred to Georgia ahead of the 2016 season, following Smart’s hire by the University of Georgia.

Maurice Smith’s Playing Career With the Georgia Bulldogs

Nov 26, 2016; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets running back Clinton Lynch (22) runs past Georgia Bulldogs defensive back Maurice Smith (2) for a touchdown during the first quarter at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Smith was an extremely consistent player in the Bulldog backfield during the 2016 season and delivered an iconic pick-six in Georgia’s win over the top-10 ranked Auburn Tigers. Smith’s touchdown would help Smart secure his first-ever top ten win.

Since was an unofficial member of the Bulldogs’ staff during the 2025 season, but has now emerged into a fulltime member this offseason. His familiarity with Smart’s system and the Georgia Bulldogs could be a massive addition for the defense.

Kirby Smart has not shied away from leaning on former Bulldog players to assist with the current roster, and has hired multiple former players to coaching roles. Players such as Jarvis Jones, Warren Ericson, Mike Bobo, and others have immensely contributed to the Bulldogs’ success over the years.

It should also be noted that oftentimes, analysts on Georgia’s staff oftentimes land major coaching jobs within a short time. The most famous example of this is Florida Gators offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner.

While Smith’s addition may or may not result in his career advancement, his presence in Athens will almost certainly have a positive impact on the Bulldogs’ defense this upcoming season and the Dawgs will very likely have one of the country’s best defenses.

Georgia will begin its 2026 college football season on Saturday, September 5th when they host Tennessee State for their season opener. A kickoff time and TV network for this matchup will be announced at a later date.

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