The arrest of a 19-year-old college student is triggering national alarm for immigrant communities vulnerable to local-ICE collaboration.
What began as a routine traffic stop has upended the life of 19-year-old college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal — and now serves as a stark warning to undocumented immigrant families across the United States.
On the morning of May 5, Ximena was pulled over by Dalton police after she made a right turn at an intersection clearly marked with a “No Right on Red” sign. When asked for her license, she presented an international license but did not have it with her. Under Georgia law, driving without a valid license is an arrestable offense. The officer handcuffed her and transported her to Whitfield County Jail.
That simple mistake exposed far more than a traffic infraction.
Ximena, who came to the U.S. from Mexico City in 2010 at the age of four, has lived nearly her entire life in Georgia. But her undocumented status — and that of her family — quickly came under the scrutiny of federal immigration authorities. The Whitfield County Jail participates in the controversial 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Within days, Ximena was transferred to the ICE detention facility in Stewart, Georgia.
Her arrest not only led to deportation proceedings against her, but also cast a spotlight on her entire family’s undocumented status. Her father, José Francisco Arias-Tovar, was arrested just weeks earlier for speeding and is also being held at Stewart. Immigration attorney Terry Olsen warned that Ximena’s mother, Ndaihita Cristobal, could be next. The family now faces the possibility of being deported together, despite having lived in the U.S. for 15 years and having two younger children who are U.S. citizens.
“This is a civil rights issue,” Olsen told WTVC, pointing out that ICE often proceeds with detention and deportation without fully reviewing an individual’s immigration history or potential legal pathways to stay.
Ximena is ineligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program because she arrived one year after the cutoff date. Her undocumented status meant she had to pay out-of-state tuition at Dalton State Community College, despite having lived in Georgia since she was a toddler. She worked as a babysitter, studied, and contributed to her community, but none of that protected her from a system that critics say too often criminalizes immigrants over minor offenses.
The family’s anguish has been met with overwhelming support from the community. A GoFundMe campaign launched by a former employer, Hannah Jones, has raised thousands to help cover legal fees and bond costs. “It feels very nice to feel loved by other people that you don’t even know,” said Ximena’s 12-year-old sister Aurora, fighting back tears as she described the pain of hearing her sister call from jail, shackled “like she was some criminal.”
Ximena’s mother, Ndaihita, who brought her children to the U.S. in search of a better life, is heartbroken. “I don’t know what will happen to her, and that hurts me. It hurts me because my daughter is not a criminal,” she said. Still, she remains determined. “If others are fighting for her, why would I not?”
The case underscores how a minor mistake — like turning right on red — can escalate into a life-altering immigration crisis for undocumented families. Legal experts, advocates, and immigrant rights groups say this is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern. As ICE continues to partner with local law enforcement, immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status are increasingly vulnerable to detention and deportation stemming from minor infractions.
For families like the Arias-Cristobals, the message is clear: in a system that treats a traffic violation as a trigger for deportation, no undocumented immigrant is safe from the reach of immigration enforcement.
This is more than a traffic ticket — it’s a warning.
