Thread: Co - Townsfolk join fight to keep immigrant

Townsfolk join fight to keep immigrant
By Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/12/2009 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/12/2009 01:41:18 AM MST


Jose Mendoza Turbin embraces Glenwood Springs High School teacher Wanda Berryman. The Salvadoran immigrant hopes to become a nurse like Berryman, who said, "He has what it takes." (Andy Cross, The Denver Post )GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Jose Mendoza Turbin had never been far from his village in the Salvadoran jungle when gang violence propelled him to ride a bus for 23 days and 1,500 miles, make a desperate dash across the Rio Grande, and head for a mountain town in Colorado.

He was 17 but had the equivalent of a fifth-grade education. He knew only two English words: "Thank you."

In the four years since, the soft-spoken young man with an ever-ready grin has worn out those words. He has been thanking a school and a community that supported his dogged determination to learn and, now, his fight to avoid deportation.

That fight has taken on new urgency. He has been ordered to appear for deportation in Grand Junction on Wednesday.

"He's just too valuable to send back. This community needs him," said Ginny Badger, a teaching assistant at Glenwood Springs High School.

Mendoza Turbin began legally seeking asylum within weeks of entering the United States, arguing that returning to his home country will place him at the mercy of violent Salvadoran gangs that had tried to recruit him.

Determined to get him away from those gangs, Mendoza Turbin's farmer parents put him on a bus with a backpack of clothing and food.

"I was crying, and my heart was breaking. I cried all the way," Mendoza Turbin said.

When his bus reached El Paso, he joined a group crossing the Rio Grande. He was arrested by Texas border agents. The detention center was full, so he was released to the custody of his brother.

His brother, Raphael Orlando Mendoza Turbin, has been doing construction in the Roaring Fork Valley on a work visa. Jose moved in with his brother and enrolled in high school.

"He has what it takes"

Some teachers thought Mendoza Turbin might be a special-needs student. He seemed so befuddled, and his language skills were so poor. His teachers taught him fractions and division by filling a bowl with coins and dividing them.

But he came to them before and after school, peppering them with questions. He sat outside their offices flipping through language and math flash cards. Within a year, he was doing algebra and helping other Spanish-speakers. In two years, he was in a college preparatory class. He graduated in the top third of his class and won several local scholarships.

When Mendoza Turbin received his diploma, the crowd filling the gymnasium erupted in cheers and gave him a four-minute standing ovation.

He now is in his second semester at Colorado Mountain College, studying for an associate science degree. He has hopes of going on to nursing school.

To that end, he has volunteered at a local medical clinic and health fairs.

"He has what it takes. You can't teach someone how to care. He has that. He has truly showed an aptitude for nursing," said Wanda Berryman, a medical preparatory teacher and a nurse for 33 years. "I would be honored to have him as a colleague."

She may not have that chance. Immigration officials repeatedly have ruled against him. One judge wrote that he found Mendoza Turbin to be truthful but that he is not eligible for asylum.

Seeking another chance

His Boulder-based immigration attorney, Shelley Wittevrongel, is preparing a motion to reopen the case. The law states that illegal immigrants can be allowed to remain if they offer "significant public benefit," and she plans to try that angle.

A stack of glowing letters from teachers and community leaders lists the many benefits Mendoza Turbin offers. They include the possibility that he can help with a nursing shortage, particularly as a bilingual nurse. They cite the fact that he has become a role model. He has told his story in classes and talked about what a gift education is. He is scheduled to speak about that at a Latino Youth Summit in April.

"He's a believer in all the things we tell our students — if you do these things, you will have opportunities. He does all those things," said Mendoza Turbin's English instructor at Colorado Mountain College, Gina Waller.

"He is someone you want in your community," said Joseph Sustar, who traveled from his new home in Illinois back to Glenwood Springs last month to support his former algebra student at a hearing.

"In 15 years of doing immigration work, I have never seen the kind of support he is getting," Wittevrongel said.

Carl Rusnock, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Denver, said that support doesn't matter.

"He has received every consideration through the courts," Rusnock said. "ICE's job is to carry out the court's orders."

Mendoza Turbin's many supporters in Glenwood Springs are going ahead with plans for a fundraiser next month. They are continuing to write letters and contact their representatives. They have not given up on trying to persuade authorities to look at this case on its individual merits.

Mendoza Turbin said he will appear at the ICE office next week not knowing whether he will be able to return to the community that has adopted him.

When more than a dozen supporters recently gathered in a schoolroom to voice their support, he thanked them.

"I want that you be proud of me," he said with his eyes glistening. "I have tried to do well in everything you taught me. And I am grateful to each one of you."

Nancy Lofholm: nlofholm@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11684644

BARF BAG

"He has what it takes. You can't teach someone how to care. He has that. He has truly showed an aptitude for nursing,"

No, but you can teach them how to follow laws.

"He's just too valuable to send back. This community needs him," said Ginny Badger, a teaching assistant at Glenwood Springs High School.
Liberal loser mentality.

When Mendoza Turbin received his diploma, the crowd filling the gymnasium erupted in cheers and gave him a four-minute standing ovation.
They should wait and give him this celebration when he gets deported.

I am so tired of reading this CR*P

He graduated in the top third of his class and won several local scholarships.

That means that at least one Citizen of the United States was deprived of these scholarship monies to get thier education.Not to mention all the free grant money he probably recieved.

If he was caught at the border when he first entered the country,what the hell took them so long to deport him?

Where are all the stories of our children and how some of us can not afford to send them to school?

My middle daughter just recieved a degree from the local campus of a very good university and she had to work 40+ hours a week while attending classes full time in order to pay for it.

The oldest one had to serve her Country being deployed for over one year to finance her education.

Where the hell are the sob stories for Our Children and thier struggles?

Send this lawbreaker home pronto the faster the better.I have no sympathy for them they knew what they were in for when they broke our laws getting here.

"He's just too valuable to send back. This community needs him," said Ginny Badger

He's got the aptitude to be a nurse...not Albert Einstein. We're going to get plenty of nurses from third world mexico...we don't need this one.

I'm so sick of hearing the "virtues" of these law breakers. I bet there are plenty of lawbreakers in our prisons who would make good nurses, given the opportunities they heaped on this jungle dweller. These do-gooders need to go to our prisons where we have American lawbreakers and see if they can't train them and give those Americans a second chance!! What morons.