In a new update, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Channel 2 Action News that 19-year-old college student Ximena Arias Cristobal will still be deported despite police dropping the underlying violation that saw her arrested.
Arias Cristobal, a Mexican-born student who has lived in Georgia since she was four, was taken into ICE custody following a May 5 traffic stop in Dalton, where she lives with her family.
She was cited for making an improper turn and driving without a license, then booked into the Whitfield County Jail — a move that triggered her transfer to ICE custody.
But local authorities later dropped the traffic charges after reviewing dashcam footage and determining the officer had pulled over the wrong vehicle.
The Dalton Police Department and city prosecutor said the car that committed the traffic infraction resembled the truck Arias Cristobal was driving.
Despite the mistake, Arias Cristobal remains in ICE custody and now faces deportation.
She is currently being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, according to ICE’s online detainee tracking system.
Her father, Jose Francisco Arias Tovar, is also being detained at Stewart after his own arrest by ICE last month during a separate traffic stop in Tunnel Hill, the family said.
Due to the local police department’s close cooperation with ICE, Arias Cristobal was swiftly transferred to Stewart following the stop, according to ABC 9.
The 19-year-old student was shackled at the wrists and ankles as she was brought into the facility, where she is expected to remain for over a month before appearing before a judge.
After being pulled over, Arias Cristobal told the officer she had an international driver’s license — but did not have it with her at the time.
Online jail records show she was initially arrested for driving without a valid license and for failing to obey traffic control devices — both of which have now been dismissed.
Arias Cristobal had previously attempted to apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) after arriving in the U.S. in 2010, but her mother said the program had ended a year before they crossed the border.
DACA allowed undocumented children brought to the U.S. to apply for deportation deferral every two years. The program has been closed to new applicants for several years.
During her booking at the jail, Arias Cristobal was asked about her immigration status — a routine part of intake at Whitfield County that often leads to ICE referrals.
In a twist of fate, Arias Cristobal is being held in the same facility as her father, Jose Francisco Arias Tovar, who was detained in Tunnel Hill two weeks earlier for speeding.
Attorney Terry Olsen warned the teen’s mother may be next. ‘It’s likely Arias Cristobal’s mother will be ‘arrested or detained within a month or so,” he said.
Jones said Arias Cristobal had babysat her children for years and added, ‘We adore her.’ She also told the outlet the teen is ‘the most precious human’ and believed her international license allowed her to drive legally.
Arias Cristobal’s younger sister spoke emotionally about the family’s journey: ‘They came in with big dreams because they wanted a big future for my older sister. And, you know, my sister goes to college, and she was an honor student since middle school.’
‘And she runs. She loves to run. It’s her passion, and the only reason they came is to follow my sister’s dreams,’ her sister added.
Their mother, speaking through the younger daughter, said: ‘My dad has his own company, and they called a lawyer to see if they could get a job permit or a visa, and they said that they hadn’t hit that status to get one yet.’
Georgia State Representative Kacey Carpenter also weighed in, writing a letter on the teen’s behalf: ‘The reality is, the conversation has always been that we need to get hard criminals out of the country.
‘Unfortunately, the people that aren’t hard criminal are getting caught up in the wash. It seems like we are much better at catching people that [are] committing misdemeanors than people that are actually a danger to society.’