A 19-year-old college student is facing deportation from the U.S. after turning right at a red light.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal was arrested Monday and transferred to an ICE detention facility more than three hours away from her home in Georgia.
The Dalton State College student, who has lived in Georgia since she was four, was reportedly shackled around her wrists and ankles and taken to the Stewart Detention Center.
Highlights
- Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a 19-year-old college student, faces deportation after making an illegal right turn at a red light in Georgia.
- She was arrested for driving without a valid license and failure to obey traffic control devices and transferred to an ICE facility.
- Arias-Cristobal has been living in the U.S. since she was four and her family says she was ineligible to apply for DACA protection.
Arias-Cristobal was pulled over for turning right at a red light
Image credits: Hannah Jones/ABC 9
Arias-Cristobal was pulled over after making an improper right turn, disregarding a “no turn on red” sign, ABC 9 reports.
She was arrested for driving without a valid license and failure to obey traffic control devices.
When she was taken to Whitfield County jail by police officers, she was asked what her residency status was.
The facility has an agreement with ICE—called a Jail Enforcement Model—which is essentially a partnership to enforce immigration laws.
“The Jail Enforcement Model allows your officers to identify and process removable aliens currently in your jail or detention facility who have pending or active criminal charges while they’re in your custody,” ICE says.
Image credits: Whitfield Sheriff's Office
Arias-Cristobal’s family told ABC 9 they came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico when she was four, and she was not eligible to register in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
DACA provided protection from deportation for a period of two years, renewable for additional two-year periods, for undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. as children.
Arias-Cristobal’s father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tova, is also being housed in the same ICE facility after being arrested for speeding two weeks ago, the family said.
Arias-Cristobal will be held in ICE detention for a month before she appears before a judge
Image credits: Hannah Jones/GoFundMe
Her younger sister told ABC 9: “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.
“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.”
Hannah Jones has now set up a fundraising page to help Arias-Cristobal. She said Arias-Cristobal had been working as a babysitter for her family for years.
Arias-Cristobal believed she could legally drive in the U.S. under her international driver’s license, she said.
“We are raising funds for her immigration attorney and bond,” Jones said.
Image credits: Hannah Jones/GoFundMe
“She has babysat for my kids for years. We adore her.”
Georgia State Representative Kacey Carpenter wrote a letter on Arias-Cristobal’s behalf to be read to the judge in her case.
“The reality is, the conversation has always been that we need to get hard criminals out of the country,” he told ABC 9.
“Unfortunately, the people that aren’t hard criminals 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.”
Arias-Cristobal will be in the detention facility for over a month before she appears before a judge.