Sheriff Jolley on Shaw grad facing deportation: ‘We’re not a sanctuary county’

Harris County Sheriff Mike Jolley says the arrest of a former Shaw High School graduate now held at a detention center in Lumpkin boils down to simple facts.

“We arrested him for speeding. He had no license, we brought him in,” Jolley said in a voice mail message to the Ledger-Enquirer. “Before he was able to make bond and get out, ICE picked him up. They had a hold on him. There’s not much more to the story than that.”

And then he continued: “ We’re not a sanctuary county. What can I say? Federal government wants him, they’re gonna get him. He has no constitutional rights. He’s not a U.S. citizen.”

Jolley made the statements Tuesday in response to a call from the Ledger-Enquirer concerning the Easter Sunday arrest of 20-year-old Jose Gonzalez Ochoa by a Harris County deputy. In a phone interview with the newspaper from the detention center, Ochoa said he was arrested while driving with his girlfriend, Marta Lopez, to West Point Lake for a family picnic.

Ochoa, a 2016 graduate of Shaw High School, said he took the wheel because Lopez had worked all night and was too tired to drive. The deputy stopped him in Hamilton for going a little over the speed limit, he said, and asked for his paperwork. Ochoa didn’t have any. So he was arrested for driving without a license. He spent two days at the Hamilton jail before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him into custody for being in the country illegally.

Lopez said Ochoa has a court hearing on Monday morning to determine whether he will be released or deported. In the meanwhile, she has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his case. As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe page had raised $1,764.

Ochoa’s attorney, Britt Thames, says Ochoa was systematically abused by his father, Jose Gonzalez Sr., who brought him into the country illegally at age 13. The father was arrested after a Sept. 27 incident for allegedly pushing and punching his son, according to David Ranieri, senior assistant solicitor general for Muscogee County.

Thames said Gonzalez Sr. was deported after his arrest. He believes Ochoa qualifies for a U visa, which is set aside for victims of domestic violence who cooperate with authorities on a pending case.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Sheriff Jolley on Shaw grad facing deportation: ‘We’re not a sanctuary county’."