NOJOSA:Welcome to Clarkston, Georgia.
When I first came here in 2012, the city council was all white, even though the population is more than 85% non-white.
HELEN KIM HO: We have to do everything we can to make sure minority citizens are out and voting.
GRAHAM THOMAS: They'll be controlling what's happening here instead of the people that have lived here a long time.
IBRAHIM SUFI: We have awakened a lot of immigrant voters.
TED TERRY: Hopefully they'll be voting for me.
EMANUEL RANSOM: I have a sneaking suspicion their choice is going to be me.
HINOJOSA: We'll see if history has been made in Clarkston, Georgia.
This is the new America-- black, brown, Asian, LGBT, immigrants.
The country is going through a major demographic shift, and the numbers show it.
The face of the U.S. has changed.
CHRISTINA IBANEZ: We're American.
We care about the same things.
But yet we also want to preserve our culture.
I just see it destroying what we had planned to happen here.
HINOJOSA: By 2043, we will be a majority non-white nation.
NORM GISSEL: We are making, as we speak, a new America.
And it's a marvelous moment in American history.
Everybody's voice is important to this debate.
HINOJOSA: America by the Numbers.
I'm Maria Hinojosa.
Behind every number, there's a story.
And today's numbers tell a dramatic one.
Each two-year election cycle, about 1.4 million immigrants get citizenship and the right to vote.
In the run up to the 2016 elections, the U.S. has seen a massive spike in applications for citizenship.
In just three days, voters will be going to the polls in Clarkston, Georgia.
There's a lot at stake.
The mayor's office and half of the city council seats are up for grabs.
Friends Amina Osman and Diane Leonetti are busy trying to get the vote out.
Are you voting Tuesday?
Tuesday, yeah.
Oh, good job.
We'll see you there Tuesday.
HINOJOSA: I caught up with them at the local supermarket.
Hey, Maria.
Hello, Amina.
Welcome to my office.
Your office?
Yes.
This is your office?
Diane.
No table needed.
City councilwoman.
We work the streets.
What's the story with campaigning in front of Thriftown?
Change.
Uh-huh.
We want the young people now.
LEONETTI: And all the refugees come here.
Well, everybody in Clarkston comes here sooner or later, so it's actually Amina's secret weapon for getting somebody elected.
You used to support Mayor Emanuel Ransom.
Emanuel did a great job, and now it's time for the next generation to come in, and I want to help them.
HINOJOSA: Diane and Amina are campaigning for Ibrahim Sufi for mayor.
I went to school in Clarkston.
I got married here.
My four kids were born in Clarkston.
And now I'm running a business not so far from Clarkston.
HINOJOSA: The city has inexpensive housing, public transportation, and it's only 20 minutes from Atlanta-- all things that resettlement agencies noticed.
And in the 1980s, they began moving refugees, like Ibrahim, here.
He's the first former refugee to run for mayor.
It's a surprising turn of events for a city that lies in the heart of the South and was 89% white just 40 years ago.
Now, whites make up only 15% of the population, and the majority of the city's residents are black.
When I first came here in 2012, the city council was all white, even though the population is more than 85% non-white.
Now, for the first time ever, three former refugees are running for office in local elections.
I've come back to witness this historic event in one of America's most culturally diverse square miles.
I have two questions-- why did these new Americans choose to run?
And can they win?
SUFI: Clarkston's a small community-- a square mile with less than 8,000 people.
The solutions to make Clarkston better is in the residents.
It's not something that's going to come from outside.
City government hasn't built the relationships with the community.
They haven't tried.
And if they have tried, it hasn't worked.
HINOJOSA: Ibrahim's family fled the civil war in Somalia.
He came to Clarkston in 2003.
Refugees are eligible for citizenship after five years.
This is a city with over 50 different nationalities.
Sufi?
French, bonjour.
Bonjour.
SUFI: Some of the immigrants here have come from governments where they feel very threatened.
SUFI: It's not natural for them to want to be engaged in government.
We need to welcome them.
We need to say, "Hey, this is your place as well.
"You've lived here.
Come on, what do you think?"
We was trying to hit the neighborhood behind Joan Swaney's house today at 5:00.
What do we have in common?
Public safety is a big issue.
We all need to be safe.
I don't care where you're from-- everybody wants to be safe.
At Betty Amin's house.
I'm meeting with the volunteers who will be helping us out.
We want economic development in the city.
Anybody who has kids here needs to have good schooling.
I have four children.
It's very personal to me that we have good education here.
Ahmed was telling me you will be holding the victory party in your house.
Once these communities feel like they have representation in city government, it builds their morale.
It will make them engaged.
HINOJOSA: Clarkston's new Americans are from over 40 countries.
Most are from Bhutan and Somalia.
AHMED HASSAN: All these shops are immigrant owned, and they live in Clarkston.
And this is my place.
HINOJOSA: Ahmed Hassan is running for city council.
Like Ibrahim Sufi, he's a businessman.
I found him campaigning at the Somali shopping plaza.
You have to vote on Tuesday, okay?
All right.
People never had somebody that goes to their home and educates them what's going on in the city, what's needed to be done.
HINOJOSA: Having lived in Clarkston for almost 30 years, Ahmed says he's familiar with the problems facing the city.
17% of all Clarkston residents are unemployed, which is almost four times the national average.
More than a third live below the poverty line.
And about half of the foreign-born residents are living in poverty.
HASSAN: Clarkston needs growth.
I have been a member for this community for a long time.
I am actually a consultant with every business.
We have a lot of businesses.
They need to be taught how to run their businesses.
We need to bring in new businesses, attract new businesses.
I want to see a city have sustainable economy.
I want you to vote for Tuesday.
We are proud Georgians, so we want to make it the best city in Georgia.
♪ ♪ HINOJOSA: I first met Graham Thomas in 2012.
A 30-year resident of Clarkston, he's not happy about the changes happening here.
You told me when I last saw you that you were upset because you couldn't even get a ham sandwich.
Here they talk about diversity.
Diversity for our side of the population is not in Clarkston.
I can go down there and get every kind of foreign food I want.
But like, I couldn't go down there and get scrambled eggs and bacon.
Particularly bacon I couldn't get.
HINOJOSA: I stopped by his house to hear his thoughts about the candidates and the upcoming election.
THOMAS: The people that came up to Ellis Island were somewhat more educated and ready to fit the society.
I think what we getting with the refugee program is people that are not ready to fit in, that haven't got an education, they don't have a trade.
Got a lot of kids.
That's the talk of the town, is refugees.
And the talk of the town is refugees and they're a problem, or refugees and they're great?
I don't hear of a lot of people saying they're great, except the guys that are running for office.
The guy that's running for office, if he can get the refugee vote, he'll probably get elected.
And what do you think about that?
It scares me that to think that a politician would use that method to get elected.
The people that are moving in here, they're going to have a majority of the vote.
They'll be controlling what's happening here instead of the people that have lived here a long time.
HELEN KIM HO: Good morning.
GROUP: Good morning.
HO: Just to let y'all know, of course, why are we here?
The goal today is to knock on the doors of every single registered Asian American voter.
This tiny little city is over 80% minority.
When I grew up here, it wasn't like that.
It was majority white.
And we have to do everything we can to make sure that minority citizens are out and voting, particularly Asians.
HINOJOSA: Birendra Dhakal is running for city council.
His family came to Georgia in 2002 after fleeing political repression in Bhutan.
HINOJOSA: Birendra's family were the first Bhutanese to settle in Clarkston.
And since then, others have followed.
My name is Birendra Dhakal.
I'm running for the Clarkston City Council.
BENU DHAKAL: RANSOM: The word refugee was like a dirty word at one time.
HINOJOSA: I caught up with Emanuel Ransom at city hall.
He became Clarkston's first black mayor in 2010 when, as the vice mayor, he stepped up to fill a vacancy.
RANSOM: I was in the the mindset like a lot of other people were when I started interacting with my community, going to their homes, talking to them, going to their different affairs, festivals that they had, learning about their cultures, eating their foods.
And my girlfriend is a Vietnamese.
You know, even with my physical condition-- sometimes I can't eat very spicy foods-- you know, they will fix it for me where I can eat it.
I never ate squid or octopus.
I wouldn't touch it.
I gobble it down now.
It started touching me that their problems are no different than the problems we have here.
And if we can get together and solve each other's problems it'd be a great community.
My record speaks for itself.
I'm a 24-hour mayor.
I've been here for years; I love this city.
Each and every event I ever have gone to they will tell you, the mayor stands up, and the first thing he says, "I don't see anybody in here "that represents this community on my council-- you need to have somebody run for council."
HINOJOSA: More than 80,000 refugees have been resettled in Georgia.
And over 10,000 of them, were placed in a single city-- Clarkston.
RANSOM: When the refugees' population started to increase, where our services couldn't meet the increase, that's a strain.
We not only had to increase our police department, we had to increase our sanitation.
We had to increase our public works.
HINOJOSA: Georgia's governor, Nathan Deal, agrees with Emanuel.
Both have asked the federal government to stop sending in so many refugees.
Governor Deal shared his concerns at the 2013 state GOP convention: You got to cut the spigot off to fix the pipe.
HINOJOSA: The Federal Government said it would cut refugee resettlement in Georgia by 25%.
But more refugees arrived than expected.
In 2015, 20% of them were settled in Clarkston.
RANSOM: I'm still getting refugee citizens coming here.
And I'm happy.
But I don't want a load of refugee citizens coming in where it will impact the citizens that are already here.
HINOJOSA: With just one day left until the election, I found the race's only white mayoral candidate rallying for votes.
People always look at sign wavers as some sort of anomaly, but this is a good way, It shows that the politicians are not above anything.
That even the next mayor can come out, wave signs, communicate with the people.
I'm 30 years old.
I don't have maybe the prejudices or the worldview that some of our elders have.
I'm very comfortable with people who are different from me.
HINOJOSA: Ted Terry moved to Clarkston in 2011.
TERRY: I chose to live here mainly because I'd heard about Clarkston for many years.
We have so many different cultures, religions, and certainly languages, which make things much more interesting and just exciting overall.
HINOJOSA: Ted is the youngest candidate in the race.
But he's not new to campaigns.
As a Georgia Democratic Party staffer in 2008, Ted trained canvassers to get out the vote for Barack Obama.
TERRY: There is often this repeated line about immigration in some of the more conservative sectors of our political discourse that says that they're a drain on our services or on our society.
The evidence is quite to the contrary.
The new Americans get jobs within the first month, two months they're here.
They're completely off government aid within the first year.
And they're paying taxes.
And they're contributing to their community.
It'll be my goal and job to work with the governor and work with the federal government to help them better understand Clarkston.
It's getting dark now, so we'll call it a day.
But we'll be out here 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. when the polls close.
But everyone's welcome to come to Katmandu for the election night party at 7:00.
It's right over at there at Thriftown.
You know where it is, Bug.
You can tell them about it, all right?
Okay.
All right.
HINOJOSA: It's election day.
The candidates have been preparing for months.
The voters are getting really enthusiastic.
The question is, who's going to turn out and who are they going to vote for?
DIANNE LEONETTI: I'm hoping that we get at least some refugee representation.
I really like these guys.
We need a change in Clarkston.
Mm-hmm, yep.
Right?
It's up to the voters.
They're going to make their choice, and I'll be satisfied with their choice, but I have a sneaking suspicion their choice is going to be me.
SUFI: We have awakened a lot of immigrant voters, a lot of African American voters.
I feel very positive.
TERRY: They want change, and hopefully they'll be voting for me.
HASSAN: There will be a higher turnout than ever before.
HINOJOSA: In the past, turnout has been low.
With just over 13% of registered voters showing up at the polls.
The candidates are convinced today is going to be different, and that more new Americans are going to show up.
But new voters are just as unpredictable and independent in their politics as veteran voters.
What does it mean to you, the fact that you have three former refugees running for office for the first time in Clarkston?
I'm not ready for that.
They're so new to the city.
They know nothing about us.
And also I'm a Christian.
That means a lot to me what the candidate believes.
I do go by that.
It's an issue that some of the candidates are Muslim for you?
Is that... Oh, it's a big issue, yes it is.
So you will not vote for... No, no.
You will not vote for any of the former refugees?
No.
No, ma'am, no.
Okay.
Do you want to tell us who you voted for for mayor?
Uh... Terry.
Ted Terry.
Thank you-- y'all have a good day.
HINOJOSA: So your son is a supporter of the Tea Party?
That's right.
So is he going to vote for you?
He had a hard time deciding that, actually.
HINOJOSA: Nearly one in ten Georgians are immigrants.
They account for 7.4% of registered voters in the state.
California, New York, Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida have the highest share of naturalized immigrants who are registered to vote.
Soon they'll be affecting election outcomes, or, like the new Americans in Clarkston, they'll be running for office.
So you're about to go vote?
GRAHAM THOMAS: Yeah, and I want Emanuel to win so bad because he knows this city.
You call Emanuel at 2:00 in the morning, something's going on, and he's going to go see about it.
You probably think I'm a racist or something because I'm a Southern guy, but Emanuel is one of my closest friends and he's black, so I don't think you can put me into that category.
And I voted for a refugee councilman.
HINOJOSA: Two years ago you said you didn't think you would ever do that.
THOMAS: Well, there weren't any running two years ago, either.
That's the big difference.
Done.
But I think we've got to get somebody up there to at least hear of their side of the story.
HINOJOSA: Three former refugees are running for office.
That's never happened before.
And we're voting for them.
You're voting for all three?
Oh, wait, can I say that?
Yes, you can, yes, you can, absolutely.
So why are you voting?
You're making a point of saying, "I am going "to vote for all three refugees, former refugees, who are running."
Well, partly because of their qualifications just as candidates, but also because they are success stories.
BILL MURRAY: America, we're all immigrants.
We need to remember we were once strangers in a foreign land.
HINOJOSA: With three new Americans on the ballot, some residents wanted to ensure there were no glitches.
Why are you doing exit polling today?
Just to make sure that there's fairness in the voting.
They want to make sure that who they voted for inside the church is going to turn up out here.
All right, done deal.
Thanks for helping out.
You're welcome.
HINOJOSA: The candidates and their supporters have been out on this street for literally 12 hours.
and in just a few minutes, the results will be posted, and we'll see if history has been made in this small city of Clarkston, Georgia.
Okay, here we go.
Here we go.
No, that's not the final results.
That's for here at the poll.
Absentee and the... WOMAN: Terry wins mayor.
HINOJOSA: Say that again?
WOMAN: Ted Terry wins mayor.
Hogan and Hassan on council.
HINOJOSA: Today in Clarkston, 21% of voters went to the polls.
Turnout was 55% higher than in the last election.
Ted Terry got the majority of votes.
He is now Clarkston's new mayor.
HINOJOSA: Following his election, the city council voted unanimously to appoint Ahmed Hassan as vice mayor for two years.
HINOJOSA: Birendra Dhakal lost his bid for city council by only 18 votes.
Only five Bhutanese are American citizens in Clarkston and able to vote for you?
Yes, and these are my family members.
No matter what, you made history.
First ever Bhutanese to run for office in the United States of America.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations.
Yes.
HINOJOSA: Ibrahim Sufi, the first former refugee to run for mayor, came in second.
I doubt from this point on there will ever be a time that immigrants will not run for public office, especially in the city of Clarkston.
HASSAN: Clarkston was a small town.
Immigrants put Clarkston on the map.
HINOJOSA: During his tenure as vice mayor, Ahmed Hassan was the highest elected former Somali refugee in the United States.
And in one of his first acts as mayor, Ted Terry signed a welcoming resolution saying, "Clarkston is committed to building a community that accepts everyone equally, including immigrants."
Next time, northern Idaho, a refuge for white conservatives.
MAN: They come up here because they're exhausted with multicultural issues.
We'll see swastika, we'll see various verses that are offensive.
Don't come change Idaho, come and fit in Idaho and we'd love to have you.
HINOJOSA: To learn more about this and othinojosa is available on DVD.
To order, visit shopPBS.org, or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
♪ ♪