November 26, 2007--Jesus Manuel Cordova
While we rage on about illegal immigrants and our would-be leaders contort themselves as they seek to use this inflammatory issue for their own self-serving purposes, there are other stories to tell besides those about crimes allegedly committed by “illegals” or how they depress wages paid to low-skilled citizens or how they take jobs away from Real Americans.
For example, there is 26 year-old Jesus Manuel Cordova from the northern Mexican state of Sonora.
Illegally in the United States for just a few hours—he had walked across the border into Arizona--he saw a van careen off the road and plunge into a canyon where it landed 300 feet below. He climbed down to it, not to rob the passengers but to see if he could be of assistance.
In the crumpled van he saw the seriously-injured driver pinned in the wreck. He was unable to pull her out but found what turned out to be her uninjured but disoriented son wandering about seeking help. Mr. Cordova tried to comfort him, telling the boy that everything would be all right. And when evening fell and the dry air cooled, he gave the child his jacket and built a bonfire to keep him warm. In this way Jesus Cordova spent the night with him in the desert just north of Arizona’s border with Mexico.
The next morning help did arrive in the form of hunters who called the sheriff of Santa Cruz County. The sheriff got the boy to a hospital where he was found to be unharmed. His mother, however, died in the van during the night. The boy’s father had died just two months earlier.
The NY Times reported (linked below) that Sheriff Tony Estrada then turned Mr. Cordova over to the Border Patrol, and before nightfall he was returned to Mexico.
Now I know that this story of courage and uncommon charity does not in itself counter the fact and problem that there are at least 10 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. or respond to the daunting challenge about what to do about this. But it does specifically and metaphorically suggest that this Nation of Immigrants did and does derive many kinds of benefits by being welcoming.
For example, there is 26 year-old Jesus Manuel Cordova from the northern Mexican state of Sonora.
Illegally in the United States for just a few hours—he had walked across the border into Arizona--he saw a van careen off the road and plunge into a canyon where it landed 300 feet below. He climbed down to it, not to rob the passengers but to see if he could be of assistance.
In the crumpled van he saw the seriously-injured driver pinned in the wreck. He was unable to pull her out but found what turned out to be her uninjured but disoriented son wandering about seeking help. Mr. Cordova tried to comfort him, telling the boy that everything would be all right. And when evening fell and the dry air cooled, he gave the child his jacket and built a bonfire to keep him warm. In this way Jesus Cordova spent the night with him in the desert just north of Arizona’s border with Mexico.
The next morning help did arrive in the form of hunters who called the sheriff of Santa Cruz County. The sheriff got the boy to a hospital where he was found to be unharmed. His mother, however, died in the van during the night. The boy’s father had died just two months earlier.
The NY Times reported (linked below) that Sheriff Tony Estrada then turned Mr. Cordova over to the Border Patrol, and before nightfall he was returned to Mexico.
Now I know that this story of courage and uncommon charity does not in itself counter the fact and problem that there are at least 10 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. or respond to the daunting challenge about what to do about this. But it does specifically and metaphorically suggest that this Nation of Immigrants did and does derive many kinds of benefits by being welcoming.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
12:50 PM
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