by Chris “Montigua” Storke
Undocumented student Fernando Rodríguez, whose sixth-grade math teacher is alleged to have sexually abused him since he was 12, has returned from Mexico to his mother’s home in Lexington, Nebraska.
His teacher, Kelsey Peterson, 25, fled with him to the border town of Mexicali in the state of Baja California Norte after being placed on administrative leave by the school district. She was returned from Mexico Nov. 2 by U.S. authorities and remains in federal custody. She faces charges of transporting a minor across a foreign border for sexual activity.
Fernando, now 14, had been staying with family acquaintances in Mexicali. He has agreed to testify at Peterson’s trial, his attorney, Amy Peck, told Hispanic Link News Service.
Peck aided the boy in obtaining a humanitarian visa, good for one year, reuniting him Feb. 6 with his mother, María, and two U.S.-born brothers.
The Department of Homeland Security approves humanitarian visas for health reasons or to testify in certain court cases. Both criteria apply in Fernando’s situation. One in five of the 1,500 applications submitted between 2000 and October 2005 were granted, according to the most recent data available from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Peck said the immediate goal is to allow Fernando to become re-established with his family, “get centered” and enrolled again in school.
The boy will need a psychologist to help him understand that what happened to him is in no way his fault, she said.
When Peck notified Fernando that he was coming home, he responded softly with a single word, “Great.”
“He wants to be conscious of his enthusiasm. It’s hard for him to get excited. He is not very happy,” she said, adding that the incident has left him with “sad eyes.”
Fernando, whose mother brought him from Central Mexico to the United States when he was 5 years old, told Peck before he returned, “Life is harder here in Mexico. I really don’t know anything here.”
According to an account published in the Omaha Weekly Reader, James Martin Davis, Peterson’s lawyer, described the five-foot-six-inch Fernando in a court hearing as a macho Mexican villain.
Peck responded that Fernando, who just celebrated his 14th birthday, “didn’t swagger into Kelsey’s life twirling a dark mustache. He didn’t sneak across the border by choice.” She called the allegation “despicable and sickening.” Hispanic Link.
(Chris “MontIgua” Storke is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service based in Washington, D.C. E-mail him at chris.storke@gmail.com). ©2008
