Police admit they mistakenly pulled over a school scholar. But she nonetheless faces deportation | EUROtoday

When police in Dalton, Georgia pulled over Ximena Arias-Cristobal, officers accused the 19-year-old faculty scholar of constructing an unlawful proper flip at a crimson mild.

She instructed officers she didn’t have her worldwide driver’s license on her, in keeping with a police report, and she or he was taken into custody.

Then she was moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention middle roughly 4 hours away, and now she faces the potential of being faraway from the nation alongside along with her household.

But native police this week admitted the officers made a mistake.

After a overview of sprint cam footage from the site visitors cease on May 5, “it was determined that Ms. Arias-Cristobal’s vehicle appeared similar to the offending vehicle but was not the vehicle that made an improper turn,” in keeping with an announcement from the Dalton Police Department.

Police and prosecutors dismissed the costs in opposition to her, however Donald Trump’s administration intends to take away her from the United States, the place she has lived since she was 4 years outdated.

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Arias-Cristobal’s dad and mom didn’t have authorized permission to enter the United States from Mexico in 2010 when she was a toddler, and she or he didn’t qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which ended the yr earlier than her household entered the nation, in keeping with household mates.

She is now remoted from her relations — besides one. Her father Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar was not too long ago arrested after allegedly going 19 miles over the pace restrict and is inside the identical ICE detention middle, in keeping with on-line detention information reviewed by The Independent.

“The family will be able to return to Mexico together,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in an announcement to The Independent following her arrest.

“Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law,” she added.

The Trump administration’s CBP Home app “is giving parents illegally in the country a chance to take full control of their departure and self-deport, with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream,” McLaughlin stated.

Her bond listening to is scheduled for May 20.

During a information convention on Monday, Dalton’s assistant chief of police Chris Crossen “we certainly regret the circumstances that led us to where we are today.”

“Ximena is one of many young, innocent people who have had the misfortune of being caught up in Trump’s cruel dragnet,” her lawyer Dustin Baxter instructed The Independent.

“The fact that Ximena, like many others, has committed no crime for which they can be deported means nothing anymore,” he stated.

Growing up within the United States and being a beloved member of her neighborhood “means nothing to ICE,” Baxter stated. The administration’s reinstatement of a so-called “no release” coverage and arrest quotas “make a mockery of Trump’s promise to deport ‘bad people,’” he added.

“The reality is there are very few ‘bad’ immigrants. Most are just like us, they want to work hard, care for their families, and contribute to society,” Baxter instructed The Independent. “It is a shame that we do not let them. We remain committed to obtaining Ximena’s release from custody and fighting against a broken immigration system to allow her to remain in the country in which she grew up and which she loves.”

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Arias-Cristobal is a current graduate of Dalton High School and a cross nation athlete now attending Dalton State College. She was enrolled for the spring 2025 semester, a school spokesperson instructed The Independent.

Her arrest sparked outrage and ongoing protests all through the Dalton neighborhood, and Republican state Representative Kacey Carpenter is urgent an immigration decide for her swift launch.

“It’s impossible. I mean, that’s the argument that you hear all the time from people on the other side is, ‘well, they’ve been here 15 years. Why haven’t they become a citizen?’ Because it’s impossible,” Carpenter instructed NewsChannel 9. “There is not a pathway for someone that is in America right now towards citizenship, unless they get married or they have a child, and the child grows up and the child’s 18, then they can petition for their parents. But as far as an individual that’s between the ages of four and 25, there’s no pathway.”

A GoFundMe established by household pal Hannah Jones, whose kids Arias-Cristobol baby-sat for a number of years, has raised practically $80,000 as of this publication.

Dalton is a largely Republican-leaning a part of the state, however Jones instructed The Independent final week that “everyone knows this is wrong.”

She is presently jailed inside Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center, operated by non-public jail agency CoreCivic. At least 10 folks died within the facility between 2017 and 2024, in keeping with a report from the American Civil Liberties Union, which had beforehand criticized the power for insufficient circumstances and due course of violations.

Her arrest follows a number of high-profile instances throughout the nation involving immigrant households with blended authorized statuses, because the president and immigration officers embark on a sweeping, aggressive anti-immigration agenda.