The Georgia police officer whose traffic stop of a 19-year-old undocumented college student resulted in her detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned, a spokesperson for the city of Dalton told CBS News on Saturday.
In an email, City of Dalton spokesperson Bruce Frazier stated that the Dalton Police Department had “no statement” on the officer’s “resignation,” and that “I also don’t have information on his reason for resigning.” Frazier’s statement did not identify the officer.
The resignation comes after Dalton police reported that the officer had mistakenly pulled over Ximena Arias Cristobal on May 5. He cited Arias-Cristobal 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.
After reviewing dashboard camera footage from the traffic stop, officials discovered that the vehicle that made the improper turn was similar to Arias Cristobal’s truck, and traffic charges against her were dismissed on May 12.
“You ever been to jail?,” the officer asks Arias Cristobal in the dashcam footage.
“No, sir,” she replied.
“Well, you’re going,” the officer said.
“I can’t go to jail. I have finals next week. “My family depends on this,” Arias Cristobal stated.
Arias Cristobal, who came to the United States from Mexico when she was four, has been in ICE custody since early May, when the agency took her from the Dalton County Jail and transferred her to an ICE detention facility in Lumpkin.
On May 22, ICE released her from detention after an immigration judge granted her bond.
Her father, who was detained by ICE in April following a traffic stop, was also held in Lumpkin, but he was granted bond and released last week.
The Department of Homeland Security previously stated that both would face deportation to Mexico. ICE filed a deportation case against Arias Cristobal in immigration court.
According to DHS, Arias Cristobal and her father should face “consequences” for being in the United States illegally.