Thread: Co - Immigrant's goodbye waived

Immigrant's goodbye waived
ICE stays Glenwood Springs man's deportation, for now
By Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/19/2009 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/19/2009 12:33:43 AM MST


Jose Mendoza Turbin, with his brother, heads to what he thought was his deportation Wednesday. (William Woody, Special to The Denver Post )Related
Grand Junction immigrant case
Feb 12:
Glenwood Springs community joins fight to keep immigrantGRAND JUNCTION — Jose Mendoza Turbin walked into an immigration center Wednesday morning clutching a bag with two changes of clothes and a toothbrush. That was about all he brought when he came from El Salvador four years ago and all he planned to take with him if authorities sent him back.

But less than an hour later, the soft-spoken 21-year-old, who has become a cause celèbre in Glenwood Springs, walked back out. He was still shaking, but he was also grinning. Authorities had granted him a reprieve on his deportation while his appeal for legal status in this country is considered.

"What we got is a breather here," said his immigration attorney, Shelley Wittevrongel of Boulder, who accompanied Mendoza Turbin to his appearance at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

Mendoza Turbin had been ordered to appear for deportation Wednesday. He remains under a deportation order but is free temporarily to return to Glenwood Springs until another deportation order comes through or until an appeals court or immigration authority decides he can stay.

Mendoza Turbin has been seeking asylum since he illegally crossed the border in 2004. He asserts that he was the target of violent gangs that are widespread in El Salvador, even in places such as his small, jungle community of Tacuba.

"I don't know what's going to happen if he goes back. There are too many problems there," said Jose's 27-year-old brother, Rafael Orlando Mendoza Turbin, as he waited nervously outside the ICE office where armed federal officers guarded the door. Rafael is in the country legally on a work visa.

Jose is a student at Colorado Mountain College with plans of becoming a nurse.

That goal would have been unthinkable to his teachers when he initially enrolled at Glenwood Springs High School. He had the equivalent of a fifth-grade education and knew only a few words of English.

But he was at the school every day studying before teachers arrived. He stayed after seeking their help. Eventually he began offering help to other Spanish-speaking students in his classes. He graduated in the top third of his class and earned scholarships.

"He is the most tenacious student I have ever worked with," said Glenwood Springs High School teaching assistant Ginny Badger.

More than a dozen teachers, medical professionals and other members of the community have written letters urging immigration authorities to allow Mendoza Turbin to stay. He offers a significant public benefit to the Glenwood Springs community, they have argued.

Wittevrongel has requested a stay based on that benefit. She has also filed a request to reopen his asylum case.

Nancy Lofholm: nlofholm@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11735008?source=rss

That is great he is learning and doing well. BUT he is still an illegal alien in this country under false pretenses. Just because he said he was harrassed by a gang ,makes it true? Did they go gather evidence in ElSalvador? But at least he did show up for his court hearing for immigration.Got to give him that.

So when he's harassed by a gang here, we've no shortage of El Salvadoran gangs in the United States, is he going to run to Mexico? Oh wait, they have gangs ... maybe Canada. Good luck finding a country without a "gang" to harass you.