Mexican illegal immigrant arrested in Boston break-in

Pioneer Press:

Francisco Javier Silva-Serrano, the Mexican national who posed as an Apple Valley High School student and then disappeared as he was being deported in January, was arrested last month for breaking in and entering an apartment in Boston.

A Boston police report said Serrano, armed with a knife, entered a Boston apartment about 3 a.m. March 29 and was struck over the head with a pot by the resident. The apartment's occupant then followed Serrano outside and struggled with him until police officers arrived.

The arrest marks a dramatic turn for the 22-year-old Serrano, who made national headlines last year when he was caught posing as a student and living at the Apple Valley school. In the United States illegally, Serrano was unable to fight deportation.

How he got to Boston was unclear Tuesday night. Twin Cities station KSTP-TV reported that the Boston district attorney will prosecute Serrano on a felony charge of breaking and entering, which carries a 2½-year sentence.

"It's probably one of the more bizarre cases we've had involving a person who is not a U.S. citizen involved in a crime," said Dave Procopio, the district attorney's spokesman.

If convicted, Serrano would serve time in Boston, then be turned over to federal agents for deportation.

Serrano, who lived for a period with his estranged father in Connecticut, had entered the country on a six-month visitor's visa, which expired in 2002. Homeless, he ended up in the Twin Cities. In January 2005, a school custodian at Apple Valley found him sleeping in the auditorium. Serrano told officials he'd been sleeping there three weeks because he needed a warm place to stay.

Police arrested him on trespassing charges, but his case sparked an outpouring of support. Touched by his story, Minneapolis businessman Basim Sabri bailed Serrano out of jail and promised to pay for his living expenses, legal needs and college tuition.

Serrano's fortunes soon took a bad turn. Sabri received a 33-month federal prison sentence in May 2005 in connection with a Minneapolis bribery scandal. Several months later, an immigration judge ordered Serrano to leave the country or face arrest and deportation.

On Jan. 5 of this year, he hugged supporters at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who had come to wish him well as he left, they thought, for Mexico. He walked toward the security screeners, but his plane ticket was never used.

According to the Boston police report, Serrano was living in a motel in the Boston suburb of Braintree.

A tale of hope gets a jarring new chapter

Serrano exhausts supply of sympathy

Is student impostor still in U.S.?

Criminals Behaving Like Criminals

Illegal Alien Just Wanted An Education…And To Rob You At Knife-Point