ICE to launch Georgia teen who was arrested after now-dismissed site visitors expenses

A Georgia teen who was detained by federal deportation officers following native site visitors expenses which have since been dismissed was granted bond on Wednesday, paving the way in which for her to be launched from immigration detention, her mom and legal professional advised CBS Information.

Ximena Arias Cristobal, who got here to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 4, has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since earlier this month, when she was stopped by native police in Dalton, Georgia, over allegations that she had made an improper flip whereas driving.

Arias Cristobal, 19, was charged with driving and not using a license and making an improper flip and booked into the county jail in Dalton, the place she lives together with her household. ICE then took custody of Arias Cristobal, who’s within the U.S. illegally, on the county jail, which has an settlement to work with federal immigration authorities.

She has been held on the Stewart ICE detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, since then. Initially, that facility was additionally housing her father, who had been taken into ICE custody in April, additionally after a site visitors cease. However he was granted bond final week and launched.

Given her time within the U.S. and lack of a felony document, area people members, together with the Republican lawmaker representing Dalton within the Georgia legislature, expressed help for Arias Cristobal and known as for her launch. Neighborhood outrage intensified as soon as Dalton authorities dismissed the site visitors expenses towards Arias Cristobal after revealing she had been mistakenly stopped by the police officer who arrested her.

Dustin Baxter, Arias Cristobal’s immigration legal professional, stated an immigration decide on Wednesday granted his consumer a $1,500 bond, the bottom quantity allowed by regulation.

“The decide had reviewed Ximena’s case intimately and decided that Ximena is in actual fact not a flight danger or a hazard to the neighborhood within the least,” Baxter stated. “The Division of Homeland Safety indicated that it will not enchantment the decide’s resolution.”

Baxter stated Arias Cristobal ought to be again dwelling together with her household by Thursday afternoon.

Whereas she is ready to be launched from the detention, Arias Cristobal will proceed to face deportation to Mexico, as ICE has began a deportation case towards her in immigration courtroom. The Division of Homeland Safety has beforehand stated she and her father ought to face “penalties” for being within the U.S. illegally.

Underneath the Biden administration, it will’ve been unlikely for somebody like Arias Cristobal — an undocumented immigrant and not using a felony historical past who got here to the U.S. as a younger baby — to be arrested by ICE.

However as a part of its sweeping immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has vastly broadened who ICE officers can goal for arrest and deportation, revoking Biden-era insurance policies that typically ensured the company would solely goal severe criminals, nationwide safety threats and up to date arrivals within the nation illegally.  

Despite the fact that Arias Cristobal is an undocumented immigrant who got here to the U.S. as a toddler — a bunch generally referred to as “Dreamers” — she didn’t qualify for an Obama-era program that protects half 1,000,000 of these people from deportation. 

That Obama administration coverage, known as Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, requires beneficiaries to have arrived within the U.S. earlier than June 2007. Arias Cristobal got here to the nation in 2010. DACA has additionally been closed to new candidates because of federal litigation.