Georgia Teen Faces Deportation After Being Arrested For Driving Without a Valid License

A 19-year-old Georgia resident is facing deportation after she was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody earlier this week following a traffic stop in Dalton for turning right on a red light.

Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a student at Dalton State College, has lived in Georgia since moving from Mexico City at age 4. She was arrested for driving without a valid license and failure to obey traffic control devices, according to online court records.

As first reported by WTVC NewsChannel 9, Arias-Cristobal was pulled over on May 5 and was referred to ICE custody after her immigration status was flagged during booking. Whitfield County, where Dalton is located, participates in ICE's Jail Enforcement Model, which enables county jails to identify and report individuals suspected of being in the country unlawfully.

According to a police report, Arias-Cristobal told officers she had an international driver's license but did not have it with her at the time of the stop. Under Georgia law, non-U.S. citizens who establish residency in the state must obtain a Georgia driver's license within 30 days, according to the Georgia Department of Driver Services.

Friends told WTVC that Arias-Cristobal was taken to the Stewart Detention Center in chains and is expected to remain there for several weeks before appearing before an immigration judge next month.

She is being held in the same facility as her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, who was detained two weeks earlier after being stopped for driving 19 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Immigration attorney Terry Olsen, based in Chattanooga, said the case reflects a broader pattern of ICE using minor infractions to initiate deportation proceedings.

"We do see that ICE is really trying to find any and all methods to say that an international has somehow violated the process and their status," Olsen told the station. "What's concerning is that when they are being checked at these checkpoints or stops, ICE does not have their entire immigration file in front of them. They're just relying on one item. This is a civil rights issue."

Arias-Cristobal's mother told the WTVC the family entered the U.S. without legal documentation, but said her daughter has no criminal record. She added that her daughter was not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, because it is no longer accepting new applicants.

DACA protects certain undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—often referred to as "Dreamers"—from deportation. However, the protections can be revoked at the discretion of federal immigration authorities.

Georgia state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, a Republican, has written a letter on Arias-Cristobal's behalf, expressing concern about the use of minor violations to justify detention.

In a statement to WTVC, Carpenter said mass deportation efforts have traditionally focused on removing individuals who pose threats to public safety—not students and nonviolent offenders.

"It seems like we are much better at catching people that are committing misdemeanors than people that are actually a danger to society," Carpenter said.