Girlfriend launches online fundraiser for Shaw High grad detained by ICE

Marta Lopez, the girlfriend of a 2016 Shaw High School graduate now detained at a detention center in Lumpkin, launched a GoFundMe campaign Monday to help him stay in the country.

Titled “A Visa for Jose,” the campaign raised $453 donated by nine people in two hours.

“Very nice guy！I knew him from elementary school to High school.” wrote one donor.

“I hope that he will be with us soon !!” wrote another one.

Jose Gonzalez Ochao, 20, entered the country illegally with his father when he was 13 years old. He was arrested on Easter Sunday while driving with Lopez to a family picnic. A Sheriff’s deputy stopped him for going a little over the speed limit, he said. When he couldn’t produce any paperwork, he was taken to the Hamilton jail, and then picked up two days later by ICE agents.

Britt Thames, an attorney handling the case, believes Ochoa qualifies for a U visa because he was “systematically beaten and abused by his father.” Thames already has filed a bond motion with the immigration court for his release.

“If Jose gets out, he’s going to get out with a visa so he can go to school, be a dentist like he wants to, and just be a normal guy,” Lopez said in an earlier interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “I understand that we want to deport bad people, but I also want people to understand that Jose is a good person, he deserves to be here and he wants to be here. It’s just not fair for him right now.”

For more on Ochoa’s story, go to http://bit.ly/2pUllzb

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Girlfriend launches online fundraiser for Shaw High grad detained by ICE."