A 5-year-old nonverbal boy whose plight in a South Texas immigration detention center drew national attention after a video call with children\u2019s entertainer Ms. Rachel has been released with his family, their attorney said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gael, who has significant developmental delays and other medical challenges, had been held for three weeks at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center \u2014 a remote, prisonlike facility that has become a flash point in the debate over the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His parents, asylum-seekers from Colombia who asked to be identified only by their first names for fear of retaliation, said their son\u2019s physical and emotional health deteriorated at Dilley. He struggled to eat, often gagging on food, and went more than a week without a bowel movement, leaving his stomach visibly swollen and causing him pain, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As his condition worsened, Gael grew increasingly distressed and began hitting himself, according to the family\u2019s lawyer, Elora Mukherjee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The terms of the family\u2019s release weren\u2019t immediately clear, Mukherjee said. She said they plan to return to their home in El Paso and most likely will be required to attend regular check-ins with ICE as their case moves forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision to release them came about a week after Mukherjee requested their release on medical grounds and days after NBC News detailed the family\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family, who had no criminal history in the U.S., were arrested March 3 in El Paso at an immigration check-in, Mukherjee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis family should never have been arrested and detained,\u201d she said. \u201cLaw-abiding people who are living their lives and complying with all their immigration requirements must not be abruptly seized out of their communities and taken to detention centers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gael\u2019s case came into public view this month when Rachel Accurso \u2014 the educator known to millions of young children and parents as Ms. Rachel \u2014 spoke with him over Zoom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the call, arranged by an N+ Univision journalist, Accurso slipped into character, wearing her signature pink headband and trying to engage him \u2014 singing \u201cWheels on the Bus,\u201d holding up a toy and speaking gently about his love of trains. But Gael appeared overwhelmed and in distress as his mother described his worsening condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afterward, Accurso posted about the encounter on Instagram, writing: \u201cThis little guy needs us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cImagine if your child hadn\u2019t pooped in nine days,\u201d she later told NBC News. \u201cThis is not normal. This is an important medical situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mukherjee, a professor at Columbia Law School and director of its Immigrants\u2019 Rights Clinic, learned of Gael\u2019s case through Accurso\u2019s post and took on the family\u2019s representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In filings to immigration officials last week, she warned that Gael\u2019s condition was deteriorating in custody and that he was not getting the specialized care he relied on at home. Before he was detained, Gael had been undergoing evaluations for autism and receiving therapy, where the family had been living while it pursued asylum, Mukherjee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview last week, his parents, Leonardo and Nelsy, described Gael\u2019s struggles over a video call from Dilley as the boy wandered around a bare meeting room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo child should be here, regardless of their condition,\u201d Leonardo said in Spanish. \u201cEven for us as adults, it\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dilley faces mounting scrutiny from immigration lawyers and advocates, who say children have struggled emotionally and physically in an environment where lights remain on around the clock and guards patrol. Families have described contaminated food, lax education and inadequate medical care. DHS has disputed those accounts, saying families are provided appropriate care in a facility designed for their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accurso has emerged as a prominent voice in that debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After having spoken with Gael and another boy who pleaded for help getting out of Dilley so he could attend a spelling bee, Accurso told NBC News she is working with lawyers and advocates \u201cto close Dilley and make sure that kids and their parents are back in their communities where they belong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Gael and his parents, the focus now shifts to recovering from their ordeal, Mukherjee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They plan to return to the Texas community where they\u2019d been living, she said, where Gael can resume medical care and therapy while the family continues to pursue asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNelson and Leonardo are so eager to take Gael to their pediatrician so that he can get the medical care that he urgently needs,\u201d Mukherjee said. \u201cThat\u2019s their top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n