This boy is not here legally and is supposed to be deported, but the whole town loves and admires him and they are helping him to stay. DP
By Nancy Lofholm, 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.
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