Illegal Immigrant "Hero" Arrested in Home Invasion

An illegal immigrant who made quite a name for himself in Minnesota before he was supposedly deported, has shown up in another part of the country:

A young illegal immigrant who became a cause celebre in Minnesota after secretly living in a high school for weeks has been arrested here on home invasion charges, months after he was supposed to have left the country.

Francisco Javier Serrano, 22, had waved goodbye to supporters and journalists who saw him off at the Minneapolis airport in January, but he apparently never boarded his plane for his home country of Mexico.

Two weeks ago, police arrested him after finding him with a knife in an apartment in Boston's North End, struggling with the tenant, who was unharmed, The Boston Globe reported Thursday. He remained in Suffolk County Jail facing home invasion charges and eventual deportation.

Serrano, who overstayed a 2002 tourist visa to live with his father and attend high school in suburban Minneapolis, was embraced by Minnesotans after he was discovered sleeping in the school's auditorium in January 2005 and told how he had spent weeks hiding there, foraging for cafeteria food and showering in the locker room.

Students handed out "Free Francisco" T-shirts, and a developer gave him a place to live and hired an immigration lawyer for him.

Last fall, a federal judge ruled that Serrano must leave the country but gave him until Jan. 5 to do so. That day Serrano went to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but his plane ticket was never used.

That's a fine enforcement system we have for deporting folks.