“The capacity to love is a vital, rich and all-consuming function…you can find nobility and sacrifice and love wherever you may seek it out…”–Rod Serling
Hero father Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes gave up his attempt to come to the United States and instead turned himself over to the Border Patrol, all to save the life of a injured nine-year-old American boy. Cordova found the boy wandering in the Arizona desert after the boy’s mother was killed in a car crash on Thanksgiving Day. Cordova, who was promptly deported, said:
“I am a father of four children. For that, I stayed. I never could have left him. Never.”
Cordova and the boy are pictured. According to the Associated Press:
“The 26-year-old bricklayer was two days into his walk and about 50 miles from Tucson when he saw the boy, who had walked away from the crash…Christopher had scrapes on his leg and was dressed in shorts despite the desert cold. The boy had his dog with him and was holding a side mirror from the wrecked van.
“Neither Cordova nor Christopher spoke the other’s language, but the boy took the migrant to the edge of a canyon and showed him the accident site…
“‘I felt frustrated and sad because I couldn’t do anything for the mother,’ Cordova said. ‘And I didn’t know how to console the boy, so I just sat next to him.'”
“Cordova gave the boy the sweater he was wearing, climbed down to the van, and found chocolate and cookies to feed him.
“He then built a bonfire, and the two hunkered down. The boy slept most of the night; Cordova kept watch and tended the fire [which he hoped the Border Patrol would see]. Fourteen hours later, a group of hunters found the pair and called for help. U.S. Border Patrol agents took Cordova into custody, and Christopher was flown to a hospital in Tucson.”
The story is Illegal immigrant ‘never” thought to leave boy: Man comforted child after mom died in Arizona desert crash, officials say (Associated Press, 11/28/07), and be sure to watch the MSNBC video on the same page.
According to the story, the Mexican consulate in Nogales is “working to obtain a short-term visa for Cordova so he can come to Arizona and be recognized for his actions.” I think instead the US government should send him a legal permanent Visa and invite this hero to come to the US. I have a nine-year-old child and am grateful that, were she ever in a desperate strait, there are men like Cordova out there who are willing to make sacrifices like this in order to help a child.