A Georgia teenager apprehended by Migration and Traditions Enforcements after wrongfully being apprehended stated she forgives the policeman that erroneously drew her over for a website traffic infraction she did not devote.
” I assume he required to do what he required to do. He understands why he did it and I assume, as from my viewpoint, I do not hold an animosity versus him. As a Christian I assume the Holy bible states forgive those that incorrect you, and I forgive him,” Ximena Arias-Cristobal stated at an interview Wednesday.
Arias-Cristobal, 19, was apprehended on May 5 in Dalton, Georgia, when her dark grey vehicle was misinterpreted for a black pick-up that made an unlawful turn. Those citations were later on gone down as soon as authorities understood there was a mix-up, Dalton Aide Cops Principal Chris Crossen stated.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal talks at an interview in Georgia, Might 27, 2025.
WSB
Yet, she was still apprehended by ICE after it was found she was an undocumented immigrant. She was launched on bond recently.
Police Officer Leslie O’Neal has actually surrendered from his placement at the Dalton Cops Division, the interactions supervisor for the City of Dalton, Georgia, validated to ABC Information.
Arias-Cristobal stated immigrants at the Stewart Apprehension Facility, where she was held, are “dealt with like we’re the most awful bad guys ever before” and recognized that have actually additionally been dealt with unjustly.
” I recognize every little thing that I’m undergoing is something that’s really unjustified, and it’s not just my situation, yet numerous individuals are undergoing this in the USA. At Stewart, I satisfied a great deal of individuals that are undergoing harder scenarios than me, and I assume they are entitled to justice since they are not bad guys,” she stated.
” There’s a great deal of really depressing situations therein, mine is simply a fleck of what you see which’s the depressing reality,” she stated.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal talks at an interview in Georgia, May 27, 2025.
WSB
In spite of forgiving the police officer for her apprehension, she stated he acted “really amateur with his words” and “amateur with exactly how he treated me.”
She stated the occurrence has actually transformed her globe.
” It sort of turns your globe. … Prior to we resided in concern, currently a whole lot extra,” she stated.
” It’s making individuals really feel a little extra qualified. With every little thing taking place in the federal government, individuals simply seem like their sensations can be put out, and due to that, we really feel as if we’re extra like targets in our neighborhood, and we’re frightened to head out, and we do not really feel as comfy as we utilized to in the past,” Arias-Cristobal stated.
The Dalton State University student stated her apprehension has actually placed her life on “time out.”
She is selecting to proceed her researches in autumn 2025, yet she stated her belief in God and her household have actually maintained her going.
” I recognize my moms and dads came below with the desire to provide me and my sis a much better future, which’s precisely what they accomplished. However, we remain in the scenario we are right currently, yet recognizing that my moms and dads relocated from one more nation with absolutely nothing in their pockets and offered me the life they a lot desired on their own maintains me going since they went across an actual river with me to be able to provide me the life I have,” she stated.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal talks at an interview in Georgia, Might 27, 2025.
WSB
Arias-Cristobal’s legal representatives stated they’re checking into the opportunity of requesting a U visa, which might be a path to lawful condition for Arias-Cristobal and her household coming from the wrongful apprehension, according to lawyer Dustin Baxter.
The U visa is a special type of visa that is supplied to some sufferers of misuse or criminal offenses that assist police with examinations.
” We have actually worries based upon a variety of various points, exactly how the apprehension was executed, what was placed in the apprehension record that certainly had not been real, and some points that took place right after, causing his resignation regarding the legitimacy of this quit and afterwards apprehension,” Baxter stated.
” She must never ever have actually been apprehended and she must never ever have actually been required to Stewart,” he stated.
