5-year-old who spoke to Ms. Rachel from ICE detention is released with family

A 5-year-old nonverbal boy whose plight in a South Texas immigration detention center drew national attention after a video call with children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has been released with his family.

A 5-year-old nonverbal boy whose plight in a South Texas immigration detention center drew national attention after a video call with children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has been released with his family, their attorney said Tuesday.

Gael, who has significant developmental delays and other medical challenges, had been held for three weeks at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center — a remote, prisonlike facility that has become a flash point in the debate over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

His parents, asylum-seekers from Colombia who asked to be identified only by their first names for fear of retaliation, said their son’s 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.

As his condition worsened, Gael grew increasingly distressed and began hitting himself, according to the family’s lawyer, Elora Mukherjee.

Add NBC News to GoogleChildren's entertainer Ms. Rachel comforts boy at Dilley detention center00:44The terms of the family’s release weren’t 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.