Dalton, Georgia — Local authorities in Dalton, Georgia, dismissed on Monday the traffic charges that prompted Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain a 19-year-old Mexican-born college student who has lived in the United States since she was four.
Ximena Arias Cristobal, who is illegally present in the country, was arrested by ICE earlier this month following a traffic stop on May 5 in Dalton, where she lives with her family. Local police cited her for making an improper turn and driving without a license before booking her into the Whitfield County Jail in Dalton, where she was arrested by ICE officers.
However, the Dalton Police Department and the city’s prosecutor announced on Monday that they had reviewed dashboard camera footage from the traffic stop and determined that the officer had stopped the incorrect vehicle. Officials said the vehicle that made the wrong turn was similar to the truck Arias Cristobal was driving.
Arias Cristobal is currently facing deportation and is being held at the Stewart ICE detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, according to the agency’s online detainee tracking system. Her father, Jose Francisco Arias Tovar, is also detained there. Last month, ICE arrested him after a traffic stop, according to his family.
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on what, if any, actions it would take in response to Dalton authorities’ decision to drop Arias Cristobal’s traffic violations.
Before Monday’s announcement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, described Arias Cristobal as a “illegal alien” who “admitted to illegally entering the United States.” McLaughlin stated that Arias Cristobal’s father, Arias Tovar, has “self-admitted that he is in the country illegally.”
Federal officials have not denied that Arias Cristobal and her father have no criminal records.
“[The] family will be able to return to Mexico together,” McLaughlin said in the statement. “Mr. Tovar had ample opportunities to pursue a legal path to citizenship. He decided not to. “We are not ignoring the rule of law.”
According to her family, Arias Cristobal moved to the United States in 2010 and graduated from Dalton High School last year. She did not qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which is available to other undocumented immigrant “Dreamers” who arrived in the United States as minors, because she arrived after the policy’s June 2007 deadline.
During a press conference on Monday, Chris Crosser, the assistant Dalton police chief, expressed regret for his department’s error. However, given the new information, he stated that he was unable to comment on how ICE should handle Arias Cristobal’s case moving forward. He stated that local officials informed her lawyers of the dismissed charges but did not notify ICE.
“It’s a very regrettable place that we’ve ended up in with the way this unfolded and turned out,” Crosser said, adding that an internal review of the incident is currently underway.
Arias Cristobal’s attorneys said their client is likely to remain in ICE custody for the time being, even after the charges are dismissed, because she is in the United States without legal permission. They stated that she has a bond hearing scheduled for next week.
Arias Cristobal’s arrest is one of several high-profile cases of undocumented immigrants being detained by ICE during the Trump administration, despite having lived in the country for many years and having no criminal record.
Soon after taking office, President Trump dramatically expanded who could be arrested and deported, reversing Biden-era rules that limited ICE operations to serious criminals, national security threats, and recent illegal immigrants.
While Trump administration officials have stated that they will prioritize the arrest of dangerous individuals who are in the United States illegally, they have also stated that no one will be shielded from deportation if they do not have valid immigration documents.