Georgia teen detained by ICE after mistaken traffic stop granted bond: Attorney
Dalton Georgia Police Department
(DALTON, Ga) — A Georgia teenager who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being mistakenly stopped for a traffic infraction she did not commit earlier this month was granted bond Wednesday, according to her attorney.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was arrested on May 5 in Dalton, Georgia, when her dark gray truck was mistaken for a black pickup that made an illegal turn, authorities said. The local police department and prosecuting attorney dismissed charges against her related to the mistaken traffic stop, though she was detained by ICE agents for being in the country illegally.
The Department of Homeland Security said following her detainment that it is committed to ordering Arias-Cristobal to “self-deport” to Mexico and that she “admitted to illegally entering the United States and has no pending applications with USCIS.”
During a bond hearing on Wednesday, Arias-Cristobal was granted $1,500 bond, the minimum amount possible under the law, according to her attorney.
“The government did not wish to appeal. The family will pay the bond ASAP and Ximena will be home with her family tomorrow afternoon at the latest,” her attorney, Dustin Baxter, said in a statement.
The next hearing in the case has not been scheduled, another one of her attorneys, Charles Kuck, told ABC Chattanooga, Tennessee, affiliate WTVC, adding, “It would be remarkable if it is before mid-2026.”
Arias-Cristobal, a student at Dalton State College, was being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, ICE records show.
The teen came to the U.S. with her parents when she was 4 years old and is ineligible for relief from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily protects some migrants from deportation if they were brought to the country as children, an attorney for Arias-Cristobal told ABC News.
Arias-Cristobal was not eligible to register for the DACA program because it ended before she became eligible to apply at 16 years old.
Her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, was separately detained by police — and later ICE — two weeks before his daughter for speeding and driving without a license, according to DHS. Her father was released on bond from ICE custody last week, WTVC reported.
“Both father and daughter were in this country illegally and they have to face the consequences,” DHS said in a statement last week. “The United States is offering aliens like this father and daughter $1,000 apiece and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab and Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is leading a U.S. delegation to Singapore this week to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security summit, another signal of the Trump administration’s intensified focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
The summit will convene more than 550 delegates from 40 nations, including military, intelligence, business and security leaders, from across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, a source familiar with plans told ABC News.
Gabbard will be joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the 22nd annual summit, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which runs from May 30 to June 2 in Singapore.
Gabbard is expected to “discuss major security challenges” with leaders, a source familiar with Gabbard’s plans told ABC News. This year’s U.S. delegation includes higher-level representation than in previous years, the source added.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is considered Asia’s top defense summit, comparable to the Raisina Dialogue and the Munich Security Conference, both of which Gabbard attended earlier this year.
This trip marks Gabbard’s second trip to Asia in recent weeks, seemingly reinforcing the Trump administration’s renewed focus on the region.
Shortly after her confirmation, Gabbard traveled to India and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of President Donald Trump’s bilateral meeting with Modi in February.
Her relationship with Modi spans more than a decade, dating back to 2013 when she became the first Hindu member of Congress. They met again during her 2014 visit to India at Modi’s invitation.
Earlier this year, Gabbard accepted an invitation from Modi to speak at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, a multilateral conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, but, before returning to Washington, D.C., Gabbard made stops in Japan, Thailand and France. Her diplomatic tour began in Honolulu, Hawaii — her hometown — where she represented the state in Congress for eight years.
While in Hawaii, Gabbard met with intelligence community partners and visited United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) headquarters in Honolulu.
In Singapore this week, she will hold bilateral meetings with regional leaders to “explore opportunities to chart a path that advances mutual interests of security, peace, and prosperity in the region,” according to a source familiar with the agenda.
Long before taking the helm of the intelligence community, Gabbard was already on the ground in Southeast Asia and, in 2019 while she was running for president, she paused her campaign for two weeks to serve on active duty with the U.S. Army National Guard in Jakarta, Indonesia, becoming the first candidate in modern history to do so.
Now, as director of national intelligence, her return to the region marks a shift from military service to high-stakes diplomacy, an evolution that underscores not only her long-standing personal and strategic ties to the Indo-Pacific, but also hints the administration’s broader efforts to elevate U.S. engagement in the region.
(LOS ANGELES) — Erik and Lyle Menendez were resentenced on Tuesday to 50 years to life in prison, which makes them eligible for parole — the latest step in a years-long battle for the brothers trying to get released after 35 years behind bars.
The parole process will be long and could take years.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were initially sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. They have the support of over 20 family members in their efforts to be freed.
After the resentencing, Erik Menendez released a statement on Tuesday night, saying, “I am touched and humbled by the outpouring of support.”
“This has to be the first step in giving people who have no hope in prison some hope,” he said. “My goal is to ensure there are no more people spending 35 years in prison without hope. That possibility of having hope that rehabilitation works is more important than anything that happened to me today.”
The brothers watched Tuesday’s much-anticipated resentencing hearing via video from prison and gave their own statements to Judge Michael Jesic.
“I killed my mom and dad,” Lyle Menendez told the judge. “I give no excuses.”
He also admitted to committing perjury by lying in court in the 90s. He apologized to his family for years of lies and the shock and grief of the crimes.
“I committed an atrocious act,” Erik Menendez told the judge. “My actions were criminal, selfish and cowardly. … No excuse. No justification for what I did.”
He admitted to lying for years and apologized.
“I have come a long way on this path” of redemption, Erik Menendez said, adding, “I will not stop trying to make a difference.”
“This was absolutely a horrific crime,” the judge said. He noted that he was moved by letters from prison guards and is amazed by what the brothers have accomplished.
The brothers’ attorney Mark Geragos said after court, “I’m hopeful and glad that we’re one huge step closer to bringing the boys home.”
“This encourages people who are incarcerated to make the right decisions, to take the right path,” Geragos said, adding, “It’s just a win-win on so many levels.”
Menendez cousin Anamaria Baralt commended her cousins’ rehabilitation, telling reporters, “Ultimately, we are here today with this result because of Erik and Lyle. Because they chose to live their lives with clarity and a purpose of service that the judge was impressed by.”
Geragos called several Menendez relatives to the stand at Tuesday’s hearing, including Baralt.
Through tears, Baralt pleaded with Jesic to release her cousins, noting time is running out for them to be reunited with aging family members.
“They are very different men” than when they committed the murders, Baralt said, adding that “their transformation is remarkable.”
During cross-examination, Baralt told prosecutors that the brothers have taken full responsibility for the crimes and Lyle Menendez has admitted to asking a witness to lie at trial. But Baralt conceded they haven’t acknowledged some aspects of the case to her, as prosecutors argue the brothers haven’t admitted to the full extent of their crimes and cover-ups.
A retired judge who worked with therapy dogs said on the stand that the brothers are looked at as leaders and that they changed his views on inmate rehabilitation. He said he used to want to punish defendants, but because of the brothers and their work to help the elderly and other inmates, he now believes in rehabilitation.
The prosecution did not call any witnesses.
Jesic’s resentencing decision follows the recommendation made in October by then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
Gascón recommended the brothers’ sentences of life without parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which is a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they’re eligible for parole immediately under California law.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the brothers’ conduct in prison, saying they rehabilitated themselves and started programs to help other inmates.
In November, Gascón lost his reelection bid to Nathan Hochman, who in March filed a motion to withdraw the resentencing petition, calling the brothers’ claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.” The judge denied Hochman’s request.
Tuesday’s resentencing hearing was a face-off between Geragos and Hochman, who wants to keep the brothers behind bars.
Geragos told reporters outside court on Tuesday, “There are no two better candidates in the state of California right now for resentencing than Erik and Lyle Menendez.”
“It’s a unicorn-style situation where you have horrific crimes — that nobody is walking away from — but also remarkable, remarkable, almost unparalleled rehabilitation and redemption,” he said.
At the time, Hochman told reporters, “The Menendez brothers have failed to come clean with the full extent of their criminal conduct, their cover-up, their lies and their deceit.”
Following the sentencing Tuesday, he released a new statement saying, “The decision to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez was a monumental one that has significant implications for the families involved, the community, and the principles of justice.”
“Our office’s motions to withdraw the resentencing motion filed by the previous administration ensured that the Court was presented with all the facts before making such a consequential decision,” the statement continued, with Hochman calling the case “a window for the public to better understand the judicial system.”
“This case, like all cases — especially those that captivate the public — must be viewed with a critical eye,” he continued. “Our opposition and analysis ensured that the Court received a complete and accurate record of the facts.”
A hearing was held May 9 to determine whether the resentencing case should include information from the California Board of Parole’s newly completed risk assessment, which was conducted as a part of a separate clemency path. The risk assessment came at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom as a part of the brothers’ clemency bid; the brothers are pursuing multiple avenues to freedom, and the clemency path is separate from the resentencing path. Newsom can grant clemency at any time.
The risk assessment said Erik and Lyle Menendez pose a moderate risk to the community if they’re released.
The assessment revealed the brothers possessed illegal cellphones in prison, among numerous other violations, though many are not recent. However, Erik Menendez had a phone as recently as January of this year, which Hochman stressed was during the resentencing effort when he should have been on his best behavior.
The defense noted Erik Menendez had one write-up for violence 25 years ago and Lyle Menendez has had none.
Their next court appearance for the clemency case is June 13.
(WASHINGTON) — The attorney for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported in error to El Salvador, said Tuesday that he expects Abrego Garcia to be returned to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia is a member of the criminal gang MS-13, but his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg has disputed that, saying the government has provided no proof of their allegations.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia from El Salvador by Monday at midnight, before Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday issued a temporary administrative stay delaying the midnight deadline in order to give the court more time to consider the arguments presented by both sides.
“[The order] just means that he recognized that the Supreme Court needs a little bit of time to do its work,” Sandoval-Moshenberg told ABC News. “I have every expectation that the Supreme Court will rule quickly and will rule in our favor, because when push comes to shove, this is not an exceptional case. The only exceptional thing has been the way in which the government has dug in its heels on making right what they messed up.”
“Jennifer is really worried,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said of Abrego Garcia’s wife. “She expects and I expect that we are going to get him back.”
In the filing earlier Monday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that a federal court cannot order a president to engage in foreign diplomacy, which he says is implicitly involved in any potential return of Abrego Garcia.
“The Constitution charges the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the Nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal,” Sauer wrote. “And this order sets the United States up for failure. The United States cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations in advance, least of all when a court imposes an absurdly compressed, mandatory deadline that vastly complicates the give-and-take of foreign-relations negotiations.”
Sandoval-Moshenberg, however, said that the government has not provided evidence that it would be impossible to return his client.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this whole country that doesn’t recognize the glaring truth, which is that if we picked up the phone and just asked, he’d be on a plane in a day or two,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
Referring to the agreement El Salvador signed with the Trump administration to house migrant detainees, Sandoval-Moshenberg said, “El Salvador is doing all of this because we’re paying them $6 million to do it, and we have an agreement with them.”
“The U.S. government is acting as if the Salvadoran government chose, for Salvador and legal reasons, to arrest him and incarcerate him,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “That couldn’t be farther from the case.”
Sandoval-Moshenberg called Abrego Garcia’s arrest by U.S. authorities a “targeted action.”
“They went out, they stopped his car, they pulled him over, they pulled him out of the car, and they arrested him,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “And he was actually with his 5-year-old child at the time, and they made him call his wife to come pick up the kid. This was a targeted action.”
