Support Urs Gomez's Fight to Stay in the U.S.

Hien Nguyen is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Ursula “Urs” Gomez has faced unimaginable challenges with resilience and strength. At just 5 years old, she immigrated to the United States, leaving behind her beloved grandmother and stepping into a life of family separation, domestic violence, and poverty.

Growing up, Urs navigated a household marked by her father’s alcoholism and abuse while struggling with limited English proficiency and relentless bullying. Despite these obstacles, she took on the role of caretaker, translator, and mediator for her family.

In high school, discovering her undocumented status felt like a shattering blow to her dreams. The weight of this burden, combined with the trauma she endured, led her down a difficult path. Yet, Urs persevered, graduating from high school, completing an X-ray technician program with honors, and securing a full-time internship.

At 19, Urs entered a toxic relationship with a man entangled in gang activity. A tragic incident during a robbery led to the death of her partner. Though Urs was unarmed and did not harm anyone, she was convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life without parole.

But this isn’t where Urs’s story ends. Despite the harsh conditions of incarceration, she committed herself to healing and transformation. She immersed herself in self-help programs, earned her Associate’s degree, is working towards her Bachelor’s, and has become a mentor to others at the California Correctional Women’s Facility (CCWF).

Urs dreams of launching a business that hires formerly incarcerated individuals and veterans, contributing to her community and helping others find redemption. However, her journey is now under threat. Urs faces an imminent ICE transfer that could result in her deportation to Mexico, a country she left as a child, where she has no family or support.

Urs is an immigrant survivor of abuse who was unfairly held responsible for her partner’s actions. Under California’s current criminal justice reforms, she would not have been convicted today.

Despite Urs’s remarkable transformation, the California Department of Corrections cruelly and voluntarily contacted ICEon what should have been her first day of freedom. She is now separated from her family and community in California, and held in ICE’s custody at the notorious Northwest Detention Center in Washington state where human rights abuses run rampant.

We are raising $15,000 to hire an immigration attorney to fight for Urs’s right to stay in the United States. Every dollar brings her closer to securing the legal representation she needs to continue her journey of transformation and avoid deportation.

Please consider donating to help Urs reunite with her family, continue her education, and build a future in the country she calls home.

NOTES: NO NEED TO TIP GOFUNDME