19-year-old college student released by ICE describes conditions in detention

On May 22, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Ximena Arias-Cristobal, the 19-year-old college student from Dalton, Georgia, whose wrongful arrest over a traffic stop landed her in detention. ICE granted bond for Arias-Cristobal after holding her for more than two weeks at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin. A city of Dalton spokesperson says Leslie O’Neal, the police officer who originally arrested Arias-Cristobal, has since resigned. Weeks earlier, ICE had also detained Arias-Cristobal’s father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, following a separate traffic stop. He was sent to South Georgia and held at Stewart for nearly a month before released on bond. The AJC spoke with Ximena and Jose about their experiences in one of the nation's largest ICE detention centers and what happens next. Ximena is currently allowed to stay at home with her family while the U.S. government continues to pursue her deportation. In a statement to the AJC, a spokesperson for Core Civic which manages Stewart Detention Center, denied the claims against the facility, saying, “it is important to know that each detainee is provided clothing, toiletries kits and blankets, and everyone is offered a bed. No detainees are sleeping on metal bed frames or without a mattress.” “SDC is not over capacity – nor are we allowed to operate over capacity,” the spokesperson, Ryan Gustin, said. He also noted that detainees are provided “three nutritious meals a day, and we take great care to offer meals that support specialized diets, including religious diets and more than a dozen therapeutic diets, as well as cultural preferences.” Credits: AJC | City of Dalton | Atlanta News First