Immigration Move, AI Data Centers,

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Good Morning! I hope you had a great holiday weekend. In the news today: a local university student on a baseball scholarship is detained by immigration agents; little is known about Gov. Kemp’s meeting with AI industry officials; and a holiday reminder at an illustrious Savannah synagogue. Finally, we note some things you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.

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NEWS: IMMIGRATION

Student-athlete detained

A Savannah State University baseball player has been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, apparently over questions about his student visa, according to friends and family.

ICE agents detained Johan Efrain Sandoval in Clifton Park, New York, where he was staying with his girlfriend, U.S. citizen Adriana Wade, The Current’s Daneen Khan reports. He hails from the Dominican Republic.

The 22-year-old Sandoval is being held at an ICE processing center in Buffalo, New York, according to the agency’s online detainee locator system.

SSU’s president, Dr. Jermaine Whirl, told WJCL-TV in a statement that he was in communication with Sandoval’s family in New York and with an immigration attorney.

Sandoval’s detention comes amid tightening immigration restrictions by the Trump administration. Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule replacing the current “duration of status” policy for international students with fixed admission periods. 

That rule would require government approval for extensions beyond a limited time, making it more difficult for students in programs longer than four years and potentially discouraging them from studying in the U.S.

At SSU, Sandoval was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration and was expected to graduate next year, according to his LinkedIn page. He also had a full athletic scholarship, according to One SSU, an independent media and advocacy outlet for Savannah State students, alumni and supporters

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NEWS: GOVERNING

‘Private conversations’

Amid swelling public outcry in communities across Georgia over power- and water-guzzling data centers, Gov. Brian Kemp met with representatives of OpenAI in mid-May about what business plans the industry’s leading company had for the state.

Who called the meeting and what proposals were floated or decisions made about this matter of important public policy isn’t known. There are no answers in the one-page memorandum prepared for the meeting and released in response to an open-records request, The Current’s Maggie Lee reports.

A spokesman for Kemp wouldn’t comment on the governor’s “private conversations and meetings” except to note that the governor meets frequently with business executives to remain informed about developments in their industries. 

A representative of Georgia Power attended the meeting, but a representative of the utility said it, too, couldn’t discuss “specific projects or potential customer agreements.”

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FEATURE: COMMUNITY

‘Dews of Heaven’

As expected, commemorations marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence were marked by celebrations and politicking — and a very elusive sense of national unity.

In a visit to Congregation Mickve Israel on Savannah’s Monterey Square, however, The Current’s Guilio Gnash found a reminder of the nation’s founding principles — principles that throughout its history have been sorely tested and sometimes breached but not erased.

There, among the largest collection of presidential letters written to any Jewish synagogue in America, is the copy of a letter from George Washington to the congregation’s leader, Levi Sheftall, written in 1789, shortly after his inauguration as the nation’s first president.

In the letter, Washington assures Sheftall and the congregation’s members the freedom to practice their faith would be respected by the newly established government.

The 58-year-old former surveyor and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army wrote that he rejoiced in the “spirit of liberality and philanthropy” taking root in the former British colonies. “May the wonder-working Deity,” he wrote, “continue to water them with the dews of Heaven.”

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NEWS: UPDATES

ICYMI

• With the mounting challenges of managing water and wastewater to communities across Liberty County, consolidation may be on the agenda, The Current’s Robin Kemp reports.
• In House floor speeches last week, Coastal Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter lauds, among others, Mashama Bailey, chef and co-owner of The Grey in Savannah; Adrian Bonsey, an U.S. Army specialist who was killed in a training accident at Ft. Stewart last month; and his son, Barrett Carter, a golf pro in southern Louisiana.
• “One of the greatest speeches I’ve ever heard him deliver,” Rep. Carter says of President Trump’s July 4 speech. Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” he also responded to a demonstration by White nationalists in Washington on Independence Day, saying he doesn’t “pay that much credence to it” because it represents neither the “soul of America” nor the Republican Party.
• A raft of new state laws touching on every aspect of life in Coastal Georgia came into effect on July 1. Check them out.
• Officials in Athens are scheduled to decide tonight whether to extend a moratorium on data centers.
• The Savannah-Chatham County School Board will hold millage rate meetings on July 8 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and on July 15 at 6 p.m. at the Whitney Administrative Complex, 2 Laura Ave. The school board last month adopted a budget of $704.7 million.
• Warning that “when your taxes go up know that they are spending money on interpreters for parents, the Chatham County Republican Party in a July 1 Facebook targets a $835,000 budget line in 2023 directed to non-English speaking families, including four bilingual interpreters (primarily Spanish) who travel across schools to assist families with registration, meetings, and other needs.
• To find evidence supporting President Trump’s claims of election fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia, the FBI is requiring field offices to contribute personnel to the effort, for a total of 260 intelligence officials, MS NOW reports, citing an internal government memo.
• After last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding birthright citizenship, the Chatham County Republican Party urges: “In light of [Chief Justice John] Roberts’ ruling, [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio ought to immediately revoke every tourist, student, or temporary work visa issued to a woman under the age of 55. Secretary [of Homeland Security Markwayne] Mullin now needs to prioritize for removal illegal immigrant women of childbearing age.”
• Trump again smears former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. He also cites George Washington as precedent after financial disclosures showed his family made more than $1 billion in crypto last year.
• DOGE, President Trump’s cost-cutting commission led by Elon Musk, officially ended on July 4. It claimed “savings” in the 1st Congressional District of $410,920,072 through May 23, 2025, with the biggest hits to health care, environmental protection, and school lunch programs, according to data gathered by the Center for American Progress. Overall, DOGE claimed savings to taxpayers of $215 billion, against at annual federal budget of $7 trillion.

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