College student may not be released from ICE custody despite police dropping traffic violation charges

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - All charges have now been dropped against a 19-year-old woman who was detained by ICE during a traffic stop in Georgia.

The City of Dalton confirmed Monday that all charges against Ximena Arias-Cristobal were dismissed after a review of police dash cam video showed she was not the driver who committed the traffic violation that led to her arrest on May 5.

Police said dashcam video of the traffic stop showed that “Arias-Cristobal’s vehicle appeared similar to the offending vehicle but was not the vehicle that made an improper turn.”

The undocumented 19-year-old has been held in ICE’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin since shortly after she was arrested during the incident.

Though undocumented, Arias-Cristobal has been in the U.S. since she was 4 years old. Her family said the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program stopped accepting new applications before she was eligible.

“We hope that it strengthens her bond request since we can show that she does not have any criminal record whatsoever,” Arias-Cristobal’s attorney Dustin Baxter said in a statement to Atlanta News First after the charges were dismissed. “Unfortunately, it does not mean that immigration will release her.”

Arias-Cristobal’s father is also undocumented and has been held in the same detention center as his daughter after he was arrested for speeding and driving without a license.

Copyright 2025 WANF via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.