angela256z
12-05-2007, 04:12 PM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004053361_rescue05.html - There is a picture of him on the site.
Illegal immigrant a "hero"
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Rio Rico Fire Chief Michael Foster, left, presents a recognition certificate to Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes in a ceremony Tuesday in Nogales, Ariz.
NOGALES, Ariz. — An illegal immigrant who rescued a 9-year-old after the boy's mother died in a car accident in the southern Arizona desert was honored Tuesday by U.S. and Mexican officials at a border crossing.
Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes, 26, stood by shyly with his mother and stepfather as officials talked about his efforts to save Christopher Buchleitner, of Rimrock, Ariz., on Thanksgiving.
"The desert has a way of rearranging priorities, and to Manuel Jesus Cordova, the priority was standing right in front of [him] that day," said Beatriz Lopez Gargallo, the Mexican consul general for Nogales. "And this man, this hero, did what men of honor do in all nations and in all cultures."
Authorities said that if it hadn't been for Cordova, Christopher might be dead.
Cordova was two days into his journey to Arizona from Mexico when he saw the boy, alone and injured in the desert. Christopher's leg was scraped, and he was wearing shorts despite the desert cold. His mother had just been killed when their van went over a cliff. The boy crawled out and went looking for help.
Cordova said he gave the boy his sweater, fed him chocolate and cookies and built a bonfire. As the boy slept, Cordova tended the fire.
"The only thing I was thinking about was keeping the boy warm," Cordova said Tuesday.
Christopher and his mother, Dawn Alice Tomko, 45, had been in the area camping.
Cordova and Christopher were discovered the next day by some hunters, who called authorities. Christopher was flown to a hospital and reunited with relatives.
Cordova was taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol and agreed to return to his home in the Mexican state of Sonora.
Cordova came to the border again Tuesday, where officials from both countries held the ceremony in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection building at the Nogales port of entry.
The district director for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Cordova deserved the opportunity to come to the United States to work and the congressman planned to introduce legislation that will let him get a special visa. Such legislation rarely passes.
Illegal immigrant a "hero"
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Rio Rico Fire Chief Michael Foster, left, presents a recognition certificate to Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes in a ceremony Tuesday in Nogales, Ariz.
NOGALES, Ariz. — An illegal immigrant who rescued a 9-year-old after the boy's mother died in a car accident in the southern Arizona desert was honored Tuesday by U.S. and Mexican officials at a border crossing.
Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes, 26, stood by shyly with his mother and stepfather as officials talked about his efforts to save Christopher Buchleitner, of Rimrock, Ariz., on Thanksgiving.
"The desert has a way of rearranging priorities, and to Manuel Jesus Cordova, the priority was standing right in front of [him] that day," said Beatriz Lopez Gargallo, the Mexican consul general for Nogales. "And this man, this hero, did what men of honor do in all nations and in all cultures."
Authorities said that if it hadn't been for Cordova, Christopher might be dead.
Cordova was two days into his journey to Arizona from Mexico when he saw the boy, alone and injured in the desert. Christopher's leg was scraped, and he was wearing shorts despite the desert cold. His mother had just been killed when their van went over a cliff. The boy crawled out and went looking for help.
Cordova said he gave the boy his sweater, fed him chocolate and cookies and built a bonfire. As the boy slept, Cordova tended the fire.
"The only thing I was thinking about was keeping the boy warm," Cordova said Tuesday.
Christopher and his mother, Dawn Alice Tomko, 45, had been in the area camping.
Cordova and Christopher were discovered the next day by some hunters, who called authorities. Christopher was flown to a hospital and reunited with relatives.
Cordova was taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol and agreed to return to his home in the Mexican state of Sonora.
Cordova came to the border again Tuesday, where officials from both countries held the ceremony in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection building at the Nogales port of entry.
The district director for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Cordova deserved the opportunity to come to the United States to work and the congressman planned to introduce legislation that will let him get a special visa. Such legislation rarely passes.