http://wcco.com/local/local_story_005112351.html


(AP) Minneapolis An illegal immigrant who was found living at Apple Valley High School last winter left the United States Thursday afternoon for Mexico.

Francisco Javier Serrano, 21, flew home to Mexico City. Last fall, an immigration judge gave him 120 days to leave the United States.

Several reporters met Serrano as he arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

"I'm nervous. I'm waiting to see my family," he said. "I called my mom yesterday, and she was very excited -- screaming and all.

He said he wasn't bitter. "I don't blame this country; I think it's the right thing to do for me to go back to Mexico," he said.

Herbert Igbanugo, Serrano's attorney, said Serrano understood he had a tough case in immigration court.

"The district did not want to set a bad precedent and encourage people to come and stay illegally," Igbanugo said.

Last winter, Serrano said he fled his temporary home in Connecticut for Minnesota after his father deserted him.

He had once attended school in the Minneapolis suburb of Apple Valley, and decided to live there. For about three weeks, he slept wherever he could hide and sometimes attended classes.

Serrano was arrested last January and charged with trespassing.

Igbanugo said Serrano plans to apply for a student visa in Mexico City so he can return to the Twin Cities and continue his studies at the Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis.