Boy Who Fled U.S. With Teacher To Return

Homeland Security Grants Sex Scandal Teen - Now In Mexico - Permission To Rejoin His Family

(AP)  A 14-year-old boy who fled to Mexico with his former teacher will be allowed to return to the United States for a year, his lawyer said Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security has granted the boy, an illegal immigrant, humanitarian parole, according to a letter sent to his lawyer, Amy Peck.

"(The boy) is going home," Peck told reporters. "At the very least, he gets to speak about what happened to him."

Marilu Cabrera, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said she couldn't comment on specific immigration cases.

The boy's former teacher, Kelsey Peterson, 25, of Lexington, Neb., remains in federal custody. She pleaded not guilty in November to federal charges of crossing a border to have sex with a minor and faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Peterson also faces state charges, including two sexual-assault charges that were added after she entered her federal court plea.

It's unclear whether the boy will be called to testify in any trial. Peck said her client plans to attend a Feb. 29 hearing on Peterson's federal charges.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Omaha did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Peterson was the boy's sixth-grade math teacher at Lexington Middle School. The pair disappeared in October, soon after Peterson was confronted by the district's superintendent about allegations of an inappropriate relationship with the boy, then 13. They were found a week later in Mexicali, Mexico, where the boy remains, according to Peck.

The boy plans to cross into the U.S. at San Ysidro, Calif., in a few days. He will then return to Lexington to live with his mother, Peck said. The boy is unlikely to return to the school he had attended, and the family may decide to leave Lexington, she said.

The boy told The Associated Press after the pair were found that he and Peterson had sex. The AP previously named the boy as police searched for him but stopped using his name in reports after authorities charged Peterson with a sex crime.

About one in five applications for humanitarian parole - nearly 1,500 total - were granted between 2000 and October 2005, according to the most recent numbers available from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Peck said she would still pursue a visa that could put the boy on the path to citizenship and give permanent-resident status to his family members. The "U" visa is designed for victims of certain crimes and needs the backing of someone involved with prosecuting, investigating or judging the case.

[yeahsure69]

raise your hand if you were ever a 13 year old male !!

I can garantee you he was in no way victimized and probably enjoyed the whole thing. No I about garantee he did. He probably did not anticipate being seperated from his family but thats about the only trauma he may have suffered. be that as it may this country can barely support the legal population it has. You want to add more to the welfare roles ?

[slim1h2o]

Posted by crzmeat at 01:06 PM : Feb 01, 2008

I agree, he was victimized, by several people. 1st, By whoever dragged him through the desert, when they 1st arrived. (child endangerment) That boy could have died of starvation, hyperthermia, hypothermia. 2nd Living in the U.S. without his parents, he could have been sold into slavery, or worse.

Btw,,he was brought here, to the U.S. by his cousin, not by his parents. That last fact was stated in previous articles on this case. Who knows what that kid had/has been exposed to, Drugs? Alcohol? Who knows?

But I don''t think we should be given him citizenship, for being in the wrong place, at the right time. or wrong time.. No, I''m not in favor of molesters either, just looking at this as practical as I can.

[Krazcarl]

slim1h2o....The boy was victumized by a teacher that had 0 social skills or just a self serving human that wanted to act out bizare fantasies That should give him a free pass but no one else lets be decent.

[slim1h2o]

You''''ll never stop illegal immigration. Ever. Deal with it.

Posted by Korinsha at 12:25 PM : Feb 01, 2008

And that attitude is one reason that Hispanics are facing an unprecedented back lash, both politically, and financially. Pure arrogance.

[korinsha]

I love this fine example of a total lack of reason:

"And also,,if they, The Illegals, weren''''t here in the 1st place, this wouldn''''t have happened."

Ohh, I see. It''s because there are illegals in America that causes teachers to use their students for ***. If the boy weren''t here, she never would''ve molested children!

*just... laughs* See? THAT''s the kind of idiocy that will ensure illegal immigration will stay alive and strong.

[korinsha]

Ha! Awesome. Yeah, they need him to prosecute the fat ugly sow that gets off on kids.

As someone who lived illegally in the US for ten years, I love to hear this. Why? Because it makes people mad. It makes them seethe and rage and whine and it causes me a GREAT deal of amusement.

You''ll never stop illegal immigration. Ever. Deal with it.

[michellem99-2009]

No he don''t. He and his kind is bleeding us dry as well as that war.. I HAVE TO LIVE ON 600 A MONTH,,I HAVE A ROOM MATE HE PAY HIS PART. We are American. His late parents American..My late Grand parents,parents American..What is wrong here..I don''t like it.Teachers are not children''s peers/friends.
Yer calling us who are American illegal. It was A. Jackson that forced the inidans to be white learn english..lass ..where do we go lass..really..Just where..I have no idea what nation father''s side came from.. I was raised in foster homes,legally blind and 53..as the saying goes do tell..

[slim1h2o]

I''''m profoundly anti illegalls but in this case a faimly was victumized they deserve the best we can offer.

Posted by crzmeat at 11:39 AM : Feb 01, 2008

And thats the problem! We don''t even offer our own,"The best we have to offer" Until we can provide our "own" with what they need, I say send them back!

And also,,if they, The Illegals, weren''t here in the 1st place, this wouldn''t have happened.

So in that regard, I guess 2 wrongs, does make 1 right!

[Krazcarl]

I believe the young man deserves to be allowed to stay here indefinatly if he desires. Yes it was a crazy adventure for the young man he will come to learn he was used and love had 0 part in it lets be human and grant him and his faimily assylum it would just be being a decent americain. I''m profoundly anti illegalls but in this case a faimly was victumized they deserve the best we can offer.

[slim1h2o]

olebd, I assume they need him for his trial testimony against his former teacher.

Posted by nolalou at 10:37 AM : Feb 01, 2008

If thats the case,, they can always send him, and his law breaking family back to Mexico after the trial.

But I believe that olebds'' statement is correct.

[nolalou]

olebd, I assume they need him for his trial testimony against his former teacher.

[olebd]

S*ex AND citizenship for him and his law breaking family. Gee! This is one lucky little boy! Why is he being rewarded like this?

[lizardbate]

Well I guess we will pay to flying him back here. Hell if we can get a mexican back to Mexico why are we going to get one back??????? Maybe so his mom can collect a bigger rebate????????

[plusbbcather]

terrible. look at what Bush has done in these years? war brings more terriosm for US citizens. someone gives detailed about Bush''s "no child left behind in Mexico" at the site Largemingle.com . just curious

[krotec54]

I wonder if the police had taken a Rape Test Kit to see if she really had *** with the boy.
The court will need a copy of his Birth certificate and when they get him on the stand he will be grilled by the defense and his story will not jive. He might be put in jail for fraud on the birth certificate and kidnapping her.

The real number is much closer to 40 million.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by ontheleft at 10:07 PM

30 million? Get real.

[rudy654-2009]

What a tangled web we weave?
This Country was taken from the Indians by the Whites and now it is being taken from the Whites by other Illegal Aliens.
History repeating its self?Posted by ewinstedal at 11:36 PM

Uh...the so-called illegals? They are Indians. The original inhabitants of this country.

[ewinstedal]

What a tangled web we weave?
This Country was taken from the Indians by the Whites and now it is being taken from the Whites by other Illegal Aliens.
History repeating its self?

[ontheleft]

Well, if you''re looking the other way when it comes to 30 million illegal aliens, what''s one more? I suppose the boy''s mother is an illegal immigrant as well. I guess this is part of Bush''s "no child left behind in Mexico" plan.