ATLANTA — Protestors showed up at Plaza Fiesta along Buford Highway on Friday night to demand the release of a Georgia college student in ICE custody.
Now, the 19-year-old college student is facing potential deportation.
This all began on Monday, when Ximena Arias-Cristobal was pulled over for making an improper turn at a stoplight in Dalton and not having a proper license.
To compound things, her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, was already in ICE custody after being arrested for speeding.
Now both sit in the Stewart Detention Center near Columbus in ICE custody.
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“They’re not criminals, and they’re good people who came here to make a living for themselves,” Ximena’s sister, Aurora Arias-Cristobal, said. “They came here for a better future, a bright future, and they came here to work and not to be criminals.
Arias-Cristobal and her parents came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2010 and were unable to obtain a work visa.
“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,” Aurora Arias-Cristobal said.
Her family said the DACA program stopped accepting new applications before Arias-Cristobal was eligible.
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement to Newsweek, saying: “The family will be able to return to Mexico together.”
In a statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, she said: “Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law.
“Through the CBP Home App—the Trump Administration is giving parents illegally in the country a chance to take full control of their departure and self-deport, with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream.”
Georgia State Rep. Kacey Carpenter said in a letter on the teen’s behalf: “The reality is, the conversation has always been that we need to get hard criminals out of the country.”
“Unfortunately, the people that aren’t hard criminals are getting caught up in the wash. It seems like we are much better at catching people committing misdemeanors than people that are actually a danger to society.”
In a post on a GoFundMe set up to help with the student’s legal fees, it said: “Ximena is in good spirits in Stewart, and her attorney has already filed a motion for bond. He thinks she will be home by the middle of next week.”
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna contributed to this article.
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