An AJC analyst of data provided to the Associated Press by U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection shows that among legal and illegal border crossings between 2018 and 2025, Hall County, specifically Gainesville, was the 15th most popular destination in Georgia for them.
In all, more than 147,000 migrants indicated they were headed to Georgia when processed by federal authorities at the southern border. Migrants must provide border officials the street address of their intended residence when they are processed but there’s no way of knowing whether that’s where they eventually settled.
Of all the places in the state, cities in Gwinnett County were the most popular destinations:
- Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, 8,877 migrants (30044)
- Norcross, Gwinnett County, 7,412 migrants (30093)
- Duluth, Gwinnett County, 6,527 migrants (30096)
- Atlanta, DeKalb County, 3,346 migrants (30329)
- Atlanta, DeKalb County, 2,929 migrants (30340)
- Smyrna, Cobb County, 2,593 migrants (30080)
- Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, 2,356 migrants (30043)
- Atlanta, DeKalb County, 2,318 migrants (30341)
- Lilburn, Gwinnett County, 2,264 migrants (30047)
- Norcross, Gwinnett County, 2,262 migrants (30071)
- Marietta, Cobb County, 2,257 migrants (30067)
- Marietta, Cobb County, 2,224 migrants (30060)
- Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, 2,101 migrants (30046)
- Tucker, DeKalb County, 1,964 migrants (30084)
- Gainesville, Hall County, 1,942 migrants (30501)