Illegal Immigrant & High School Squatter On The Lam

An illegal immigrant found living in a suburban high school last year, prompting tremendous sympathy among students, is apparently on the lam after failing to board a plane back to Mexico in January. A judge had ordered Francisco Javier Serrano, 22, to leave the United States because he was here illegally. On Jan. 5, he hugged supporters at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and walked toward the security screeners, saying it was "the right thing" for him to go back to Mexico. But his plane ticket was never used and he hasn't been seen since by friends in Minnesota or family in Mexico.Francisco Javier SerranoNow Serrano is damaging any chance he had of ever living here legally, said his attorney, Herbert Ignabugo. "He is now a fugitive from the law," Ignabugo said. In January 2005, a custodian at Apple Valley High School discovered Serrano sleeping in the school's auditorium. Serrano, who was arrested on trespassing charges, said he'd been sleeping there three weeks because he needed a warm place to stay. Students at the high school handed out "Free Francisco" T-shirts, while Basim Sabri, a Minneapolis developer serving a federal prison term for his own brushes with the law, gave Serrano a place to live and paid his expenses. Ignabugo said Serrano was hesitant to return to Mexico, but had been hoping to obtain a student visa and return to study engineering in the Twin Cities.