DALTON, Ga. – A Dalton teen and her father remain in ICE custody after getting arrested during separate traffic stops.

19-year-old Ximena Arias-Cristobal’s attorneys are working to get her a bond hearing. Arias-Cristobal was arrested on Monday for not having a valid license.

“It’s just terrible how she ended up in this situation … wrong turn and she ends up in ICE custody,” said attorney Dustin Baxter, who represents Arias-Cristobal.

Baxter said he is confident the teen will get a bond.

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“She has no criminal history, she has the support of her community, she’s in class,” he said.

Arias-Cristobal’s dad, 43-year-old Arias Tovar, is at the same detention facility after he was taken into custody for speeding and not having a license. Both Arias-Cristobal and Tovar are undocumented, but the 19-year-old has been in the United States since she was four.

“She does face deportation proceedings even if she’s bonded out, so it’s going to be our job to find a way to keep her here based on her circumstances,” Baxter said. “What she has going on in her personal life and whether or not she has fear of returning to Mexico, her home country.”

The family’s case has received a lot of attention. In a social media post on X, Homeland Security wrote that Tovar had a chance to seek a legal way to citizenship but chose not to.

“I hope that people will see this with a little more empathy, if they can relate with Ximena,” he said.

On Friday, many gathered on Buford Hwy. to rally for the release of Arias-Cristobal. The rally lasted a little over an hour, but the dozens who showed up hope the message resonates much longer with the community.

Signs and chants in Brookhaven called for ICE to release the daughter and her dad from custody.

Organizers of Friday’s rally hope that it will lead to Arias-Cristobal and her dad’s freedom and give the community a chance to unite against recent deportation efforts from the Trump administration.

One person said he believes the administration is unwilling to hear from the people.

“That dialogue is a like a dialogue between the sword and the neck,” said Miles Wetherington, one of the rally’s organizers. “What’s important is we need to build working-class power. As working-class people, we recognize the connections that we have with the immigrant community, and we need to show solidarity with them.”

Another participant in the rally, Jessica Salazar, traveled to Friday’s rally, pushing for Ximena’s freedom. She says she went to high school with Ximena in Dalton and understands the pain of this deportation process. Salazar says her mother was deported back to Mexico seven years ago.

“I graduated without her, so it is really hard,” Salaza said. “We shouldn’t live in fear. It shouldn’t be something everyone lives by day by day, in fear. Ximena was really young.

“It’s scary because Ximena did absolutely nothing wrong.”

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