Illegal immigrant rescues boy whose mother died in Ariz. crash

Since I'm one of the people who won't hesitate to mention the (many) news stories of crimes committed by illegal aliens, I'll be fair and also post the first good story I've seen about one lately:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1123immig-rescuer1123-ON.html

A 9-year-old boy looking for help after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was rescued by a man entering the U.S. illegally, who stayed with him until help arrived the next day, an official said.

As temperatures dropped, he gave him a jacket, built a bonfire and stayed with him until about 8 a.m. Friday, when hunters passed by and called authorities, Estrada said. The boy was flown to University Medical Center in Tucson as a precaution but appeared unhurt.

Cordova was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents, who were the first to respond to the call for help. He had been trying to walk into the U.S. when he came across the boy.

Cordova likely saved the boy, Estrada said, and his actions should remind people not to quickly characterize illegal immigrants as criminals.

“They do get demonized for a lot of reasons, and they do a lot of good. Obviously this is one example of what an individual can do,” he said.

If they'd done nothing illegal, we'd call them legal immigrants. Duh.

nm

Perhaps it was the latter. :)

and they're like everybody else: 98% of them are decent and hardworking people who just want a chance at a better life than the one they got handed by birth. 2% are assholes who get all the bad press.

This man is a hero, whatever else he has done, and should be treated accordingly. I hope someone who owns a business steps up and sponsors him.

I'd like to see changes made: the minimum wage should be enough to support a worker in safe housing with nutritious food and access to health care. Employers who try to exploit vulnerable people like illegals at lower than the going wage should be charged, fined, and in extreme cases, imprisoned. That law is already on the books, just not being enforced.

Once they can't lure Mexican peasants with a minimum wage that looks like ten times what they make in Mexico or the rest of the third world but which won't support a single human being in the US, the lure of hiring cheap labor that doesn't speak the language or share the culture will diminish greatly. With the jobs drying up, the flood of illegals across the border will diminish.

As for the families already here, I'd like to see the ones not born here have a path to get green cards. Their children who are born here are citizens. I don't see a path to citizenship for people who broke the law to get here as a viable plan.

Remember, the people who come here illegally looking for a better shake aren't the problem. Most are hard working people, exactly who we want in this country. The problem is the pool of scumbag employers who recruit them in their home countries and pay them starvation wages when they get here. Once we raise the minimum above the starvation level and put the teeth back into the law against exploitive employers, the problem will solve itself.

But as far as this man goes, I would certainly applaud anyone's efforts to get him recommended on the "fast track" to citizenship and forgive any legal penalties if that's what he wants.

Protesting illegal immigration ain't about racism, and I'm so sick if hearing this convenient accusation. The real demon is in everyone (including the advocacy organizations) trying to exploit a predicament or weakness to their own advantage, without regard to the broader social consequences. You could argue that burglars are only trying to make a living, earn money for their families, also. That they keep the police gainfully employed and the hardware stores selling locks. You could also dementedly argue that the people who ignore the homeless or kill them for sport clean up the street or take them off the already-burdened charity rolls. Depends upon your idea of good, and how deep and murky your rationalization slop bucket.

This fundamentally decent man, who was in the process of committing such an exploitation, stopped and did the altruistic thing AT HIS OWN PERIL. He's welcome to dine at my table anytime.

How can our government forgive the crimes of a drug-runner (so he could testify against two Border Patrol agents) and allow him in the country legally...while someone like this guy, who acted so selflessly and heroically, will NOT get the same treatment?

It's sick, what our country has become.

That's how.

If you STOPPED getting your info about that incident
from 'White Supremacist' websites, much would become clear.
As has been pointed out to you many times.

From Wikipedia's entry on illegal immigration to the United States:

"Economists...overwhelmingly view immigration, including illegal immigration as a POSITIVE for the economy."

"Research by George Borjas, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University, shows that THE AVERAGE AMERICAN'S WEALTH IS INCREASED...by illegal immigration."

"There little correlation between illegal immigration and unemployment"

"Crime rates from 1994 to 2005 have declined slightly, despite the fact that both legal and illegal immigration have increased."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States#Crime

Also, some anti-immigration people, like Lou Dobbs, have a proven record of lying about the effect of illegals. A lot of it is obviously xenophobia.

And you'll see why you might not be clear on it.

While some of the dozens of resulting sources refuting your opinion are arguably smacking of xenophobia, I think you can rely on the bulk of them to be far more statistically impartial, and less massaged and cherry-picked, than the lay user-edited Wikipedia.