BOSTON -- Students of Fenway High School rallied Wednesday in support of a beloved teacher who is facing deportation.

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Kelley Tuthill Reports On Teacher

NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported that Ivory Coast native Obain Attouoman was imprisoned for immigration violations, but after a massive outcry and demonstrations by his students last year, he was released.

Hundreds of students and teachers protested outside the school earlier Wednesday to fight to keep Attouoman in the country.

"He is an awesome person and always has a smile. He is always talking to everybody," student Nicole Sweeney said.

Attouoman arrived from the Ivory Coast on a visitor's visa 13 years ago. Coming from a family of political activists, he had been arrested and jailed several times while in high school and college, so he filed for political asylum in the United States, but was denied.

He was arrested in November 2003 and released four months later. He is now scheduled to be deported in three weeks.

"It will hurt our school if he is forced to leave in the middle of the school year," Headmaster Peggy Kemp said. "The students are learning that there might be alternatives that even if you don't get what you want, which is to allow him to stay permanently, we might get a delay or we might find a safe place for him."

Students said that Attouoman is irreplaceable.

"He is our friend and one of the few people you can sit down to talk to," student Ian Powell said.

"We love him and we need him at Fenway. If he is gone, then a part of me is gone as well," student Antoinetta Kelly said.