Mexican, U.S. Officials  Honor Illegal Immigrant Who Helped Boy

By Amanda Lee Myers/
Associated  Press

Tuesday, December 04, 2007  

NOGALES, Ariz.  An illegal immigrant who rescued  a 9-year-old after the boy's mother died in the southern Arizona desert was  honored for his actions today by U.S. and Mexican officials at a border crossing  here. Manuel Jesus Cordova  Soberanes, 26, stood by shyly with his mother and stepfather as officials talked  about his efforts to save Christopher Buchleitner on Thanksgiving Day.

"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 say if it  hadn't been for Cordova, Christopher might be  dead. Cordova was two days into  his journey to Arizona from Mexico when he spotted Christopher, alone and  injured in the desert. His leg was scraped up, he was dressed in shorts despite  the desert cold, and 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 kept watch and tended the  fire. "The only thing I was  thinking about was keeping the boy warm," Cordova said Tuesday. "I was worried  no one would come."

Christopher  and his mother, 45-year-old Dawn Alice Tomko, had been in the area camping. Cordova and Christopher  were discovered after a long, cold night in the desert by a group of hunters,  who called authorities.
Christopher was flown to a hospital and later reunited with family members. Cordova was taken into  custody by the U.S. Border Patrol and agreed to return to his home in Magdalena  de Kino in the Mexican state of Sonora without
going through formal deportation  proceedings. 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. His  mother, Almalida Soberanes, looked on  proudly. "He did what he had to  do," Soberanes said. "He took care of that little boy and protected him."

The district director for  U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Cordova deserved the opportunity to come  to America to work and that the congressman plans to introduce legislation that  will let him get a special visa. Such
legislation rarely passes, but Grijalva  aide Ruben Reyes said it was the only way they knew of to show their thanks.
"We think he actually  brings another tone into the discussion of immigration. Unfortunately the  discussion of immigration is (mostly) negative but with his acts of heroism it  counters so many of the other negative aspects," Reyes
said. "It brings a face  of dignity, humanity and a bond that the two countries can share and he's a  shining example of that."