A Georgia college student who was detained by immigration officials following a mistaken traffic stop is now calling on Congress to pass permanent protections for dreamers, who are undocumented immigrants that were brought to the U.S. at a young age and have lived much of their lives in the country without legal status.
Speaking Tuesday at a press conference, 19-year-old Ximena Arias-Cristobal said she wants her story to serve as a call to action for better immigration policy.
"Mine's just a speck of what you see," she said. "And that's the sad truth."
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Earlier this month, police in Georgia pulled Arias-Cristobal over while driving and she was then taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. An attorney for the teen said she was brought to the U.S. illegally with her family 15 years ago, when she was four.
Scripps News obtained video of the traffic stop and arrest. Dashboard camera video from a vehicle driven by a Dalton Police officer shows a black pickup truck driving past the car on May 5.
Off camera, the officer allegedly saw the driver of the truck make an illegal right turn on red at a busy intersection. The officer pursues what he thinks is the pickup truck but mistakenly pulls over a dark gray truck instead, driven by Arias-Cristobal.
The teen tells the officer she has an international license, but does not have it on her. The officer then arrests her for the illegal right turn on red, not realizing she was not the driver he saw commit the violation, and also cites her for driving without a license.
After reviewing the video, authorities in Georgia dropped the traffic charges against Arias-Cristobal, acknowledging she should not have been pulled over. An immigration court judge then ordered the Trump administration to allow Arias-Cristobal be released on $1,500 bond.
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Arias-Cristobal's remarks Tuesday came just hours after the Georgia police officer who pulled her over resigned.
In a resignation letter obtained by Scripps News, Leslie O'Neal said his decision stems from the Dalton Police Department's "inadequate response to and defense against public accusations of false arrest, which arose after a charge from a valid arrest was publicly dropped without explanation."
He added, "The department's silence in the face of widespread defamation has not only made my position personally untenable but has also created an environment where I can no longer effectively carry out my duties within the city of Dalton without fear of further backlash from the community."
Arias-Cristobal said she forgives O'Neal, but that more needs to be done to prevent this from happening to others in the future. She added that she also still hopes to follow the legal process to obtain U.S. citizenship.
