The family and friends of a Birmingham woman are pleading with the community to help them keep her in Alabama after she was detained this week during a traffic stop.

“On the morning of Tuesday August 5th, Giovanna [Martinez] was driving to work when a Leeds officer pulled her over for going 1 mile over the speed limit,” reads a GoFundMe set up by her brother Dilan Hernandez to cover Martinez’s legal expenses.

“What should have been a regular traffic stop, turned into something much worse as an ICE agent arrived closely thereafter. In less than an hour she was processed and taken into ICE custody.”

Leeds police on Thursday issued a statement disputing that account.

Chief Paul Irwin said the traffic stop was made on Tuesday at about 7:44 a.m. on Interstate 20 when an unmarked Leeds veh

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