DALTON, Ga. — Dozens of protesters gathered at a rally Wednesday calling for the release of Ximena Arias-Cristobal, the 19-year-old Dalton College student whose arrest after a traffic stop earlier this month landed her in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Ximena belongs, Ximena stays, we won’t look the other way,” protesters chanted as cars zoomed by, many honking in support on a busy street near the city’s downtown.

Dozens of protesters at the rally held signs that read “Free Ximena,” “United For Justice” and “Keep Families Together.”

The gathering in this majority-Hispanic town reflected that, at a time of increased immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, Arias-Cristobal’s arrest has resonated like few others.

“I just think there is an injustice that was done, and I want to stand up against it, especially considering that this happened in my community,” Dalton native Erika Paez said.

In Dalton’s Whitfield County, local law enforcement has participated in an ICE program that allows officers to perform some federal immigration duties since 2008. According to Paez, news of families being separated over immigration issues are part of everyday life.

“But I think it’s definitely at an all-time high right now,” she said.

Dalton “is all (Arias-Cristobal) has ever known here,” she added. “And they want to deport her to a place where she is not familiar with.”

Arias-Cristobal settled with her family in Whitfield County when she was 4. Despite arriving to the U.S. at an early age, she did not qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that protected beneficiaries from deportation. Only people who have lived in the country continuously since 2007 were DACA-eligible.

Wednesday’s protest came one day after local police said they had arrested Arias-Cristobal by mistake. Review of police dashcam footage showed it was another driver in a different vehicle who committed the traffic violation — an improper turn — that led to Arias-Cristobal being pulled over. She was cited for that turn, and for driving without a license.

In their announcement of their error, Dalton authorities also confirmed they had dropped the charges against Arias-Cristobal. But the teenager remains in ICE custody at the Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia.

The recent police statement was on the minds of many at the rally.

“If she can be unjustly detained for a traffic violation she didn’t actually commit, then it can happen to (anyone),” said Ashley Langford.

“We need to have a heart for people because our nation was built on immigrants,” she said. “Here in Dalton, the immigrants saved our community. The carpet mills have threatened to pack up and go to other countries. And the immigrants came in and served our community and helped keep this town alive.”

America Gruner is a longtime Dalton immigrant community advocate, and president of the Coalition of Latino Leaders, a local Hispanic-serving nonprofit. She said arrests like Arias-Cristobal’s happen on a recurring basis in Dalton, even if most don’t generate the same level of attention.

“It happens every single week,” she said.

Arias-Cristobal was the second member of her family to wind up in ICE detention following a traffic stop in Whitfield County. Her father, Jose, was stopped for speeding weeks earlier and was also sent to Stewart.

“Both father and daughter were in this country illegally and they have to face consequences,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Demands for path to citizenship

Carmen Shuler also attended the rally. The 67-year-old woman grew up in Dalton, left in the late 1970s and then returned decades later.

Shuler said she has witnessed firsthand Dalton’s evolving demographics and its outsized exposure to changes in immigration policy.

“When I left Dalton, there were very few Latinos here,” Shuler said. “But when I came back, the entire population had shifted and changed. And over the decades, everyone has adjusted. You know, we’re friends.

“You see all races out here standing together in support of Ximena. And people work together. There’s intermarriage. We don’t want them to be carried off by ICE. Our businesses, our industry depends on the Latino workers.”

A recurring demand among those at the rally was for lawmakers to create a pathway to citizenship that would allow Dalton residents like Arias-Cristobal to live in stability.

“It is very unfair to someone who was brought here as a minor,” said Brian Wright. “We’ve set it up so they cannot get citizenship while here. They cannot get a driver’s license to drive legally. I think an overhaul needs to be made.

“Nobody’s above the law. But the law needs to be just and fair.”

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