DALTON, Ga. — The undocumented Georgia student held inside an ICE detention center for two weeks is now back home with her family.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal made national headlines when Dalton police mistakenly pulled her over during a traffic stop and then learned she was undocumented.
ICE agents immediately sent Arias to the Stewart Detention Center in Columbus.
“It was scary. I was terrified,” Arias-Cristobal said. “As I was being transported down to Stewart, I stopped at some offices in Atlanta. They had me in a room by myself for 9 hours. I didn’t know what was going on. I wasn’t explained to.”
While in custody, family, friends, immigration activists, and community members pushed for the 19-year-old’s release.
On Thursday, a federal judge granted Arias-Cristobal bond.
TRENDING STORIES:
- 7-year-old drowns in GA lake, 2 other kids rushed to hospital
- Murder suspect shoots girlfriend in head in East Point, goes on 2-state crime spree, police say
- Husband ran off to Costa Rica with nanny after wife’s south GA murder, GBI says
Her attorney said Arias-Cristobal is now back home resting, while he works on her immigration status.
“We’re going to keep working on her case to try to keep her here permanently,” attorney Dustin Baxter told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington.
On Friday, Washington spoke with people in the small Dalton, Georgia, community about why they support Arias.
“I think it was ridiculous,” Dalton resident Kimberly Nunes said. “They just snatched her up. I mean, that’s just horrible. She had to be scared to death.”
“She’s a good person. She didn’t do anything bad,” Pilar Zamora said.
Arias-Cristobal was brought here from Mexico at the age of four by her parents.
Their attorney is now working on her father’s immigration case as well. ,
©2025 Cox Media Group
