Entire Family Faces Possible Deportation Following Alleged Traffic Violations

An entire family faces possible deportation from the United States after a father and daughter were pulled over by police in separate traffic stops.

Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was pulled over by police in Dalton, Georgia, for allegedly failing to adhere to a “no turn on red” sign.

According to WTVC, the Mexican national has lived in the United States since she was four-years-old.

Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, her father, was arrested last month for allegedly driving 19 miles over the speed limit.

The entire family has been living illegally in the United States for nearly 15 years, the New York Post noted.

Arias-Cristobal and Arias-Tovar are both being held in ICE’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

Georgia college student faces deportation after running red light — police discover her entire family is living illegally in US for years https://t.co/qRVkXJx2eF pic.twitter.com/4wazIgRbfG

— New York Post (@nypost) May 8, 2025

From the New York Post:

The father, who owns his own company, was denied proper paperwork to remain in the US. It was not known if he ever applied for citizenship.

“My dad has his own company, and they called a lawyer to see if they could get a job permit or a visa, and they said that they hadn’t hit that status to get one yet,” Arias-Cristobal’s younger sister told WTVC.

Arias-Cristobal was not eligible for the DACA program, having been brought into the country a year after the program ended, according to Hannah Jones, the woman the teen babysat for in the past.

Jones created a GoFundMe to raise money for an immigration attorney and bond for the teen.

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based immigration attorney Terry Olsen called out the family’s detention.

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

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Olsen said Arias-Cristobal’s mother will be arrested and deported within a month and her daughters will be taken with her to keep the family together.

WATCH:

A 19-year-old Georgia college student was pulled over for running a red light and arrested after authorities discovered her entire family had been living in the U.S. illegally for 15 years. But don’t worry, she has been reunited with her father at ICE’s Stewart Detention Center… pic.twitter.com/O7Z3oQ03b9

— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) May 8, 2025

Per WTVC:

Dalton Police tell us that police pulled over Ximena Arias-Cristobal at the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Thornton Avenue on Monday after she made an improper right turn, disregarding a “no turn on red” sign.

Officers asked Arias-Cristobal for her license. A police report shows she told them she had an international driver’s license, but she didn’t have it with her.

Online court records show police arrested Arias-Cristobal for driving without a valid license and failure to obey traffic control devices.

Dalton police took the teenager to the Whitfield County jail, where a spokesperson says their booking procedure includes asking everyone their residency status. Whitfield County has had a “Jail Enforcement Model” agreement with ICE since June of 2020.The ICE website says that means they can

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…identify and process removable aliens — with criminal or pending criminal charges — who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.

Hannah Jones says Arias-Cristobal has been working with her family as a babysitter for years. Jones says Arias-Cristobal’s parents came to the Dalton area from Mexico City in 2010, when she was a toddler.

Would you agree that?