After almost two months in federal custody, Wilto Gutiérrez, a 10-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant who was found alone and crying abandoned in a vacant lot on the border with Mexico, returned this Friday with his mother, Meyling Obregón.
The boy left the Casa Padre shelter for unaccompanied minors, located in Brownsville, Texas, where he had been since April 1, to be reunited with his family.
His uncle, Misael Obregón, told Noticias Telemundo that mother and son will travel "between today or tomorrow" to Florida, where they will establish their residence.
"I feel super excited, my heart is going to be happy, joyful. It is the best news we have had," declared Obregón, who added that the reunion coincides with Mother's Day that is celebrated this weekend In Nicaragua.
"It is a gift from God," he concluded.
Wilto, the Nicaraguan boy abandoned at the border, is finally with his mother
May 28, 202104: 30
Wilto Gutiérrez was found by a Border Patrol agent in a remote rural area of the Mexico-Texas border, east of the city of Rio Grande, in early April.
The boy, who was walking alone, began to cry in terror as he asked the agent for help.
"I was coming with a group of people and they dumped me and I don't know where they are," he said.
The video became a symbol of the unprecedented increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors to the border, as well as the dangers that immigrants face due to the harassment of criminal groups in Mexico.
The boy and his mother left Nicaragua on February 7 for the southern border of the United States.
The family assures that they emigrated to escape poverty and violence by the woman's ex-partner.
The family explained to Noticias Telemundo that the boy was found alone at the border after he, his mother, and several fellow travelers were kidnapped.
His uncle said the captors called him on the phone to ask for a ransom and that he only managed to pay for the boy's release: $ 5,000.
The mother's whereabouts were not known for several weeks, until in April she was allegedly released by her captors in Mexico.
Shortly after, he was able to enter the United States as an asylum seeker.
In April, the Nicaraguan regime requested the United States to repatriate the minor.
Noticias Telemundo reported then that his father, Lázaro Gutiérrez Laguna, was behind those efforts, although he gave up when the child's mother was found safe and sound, who preferred that he stay in the United States with her.
Wilton Gutiérrez's father will stop fighting for his custody and agrees that the boy stay in the United States.
May 12, 202101: 47
Noticias Telemundo followed the turns of the case for weeks, including the reception arrangements by Meyling Obregón's brother, who
had agreed to be the child's sponsor so that he could be released from government custody
.
But the child's release process took longer than the average time the Joe Biden Administration says it is taking to reunite the children with their parents and sponsors.
Since March, the government has greatly reduced the number of children in Border Patrol custody and the time they spend in its facilities, from more than 5,000 children who spend an average of more than 100 hours in custody, to less than 500 children who spend less than 24 hours, on average.
"He's very happy": the boy Wilton and his mother meet only for a few minutes in a shelter in Texas
April 26, 202101: 55
After their stay in Border Patrol custody, the children are transferred to facilities of the Department of Health, which has been forced to increase the capacity of beds to accommodate an increasing number of migrant children.
Until last month, the minors were released from custody after spending an average of 30 days in the department's care, according to data obtained by NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
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