Dilley Immigration Processing Center: 5-year-old Gael Released with Family After Medical Concerns

On March 25, 2026, a five-year-old boy known as Gael was released from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center with his parents after three weeks in custody, his attorney said. The family’s departure follows widespread attention to the child’s health and behavior during a video call with educator Rachel Accurso, widely known as Ms. Rachel, which helped trigger legal intervention.

Gael, described by his family as nonverbal and living with significant developmental delays, experienced worsening medical problems while detained, including frequent gagging while eating, more than a week without a bowel movement that left his abdomen distended and episodes in which he hit himself, according to their lawyer, Elora Mukherjee. The parents, asylum-seekers from Colombia who asked to be identified by their first names, Leonardo and Nelsy, were arrested on March 3 in El Paso during an immigration check-in. Mukherjee, a Columbia Law School professor and director of its Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, filed a medical-release request roughly a week before the family was freed; the specific conditions of their release were not immediately disclosed, though the family is expected to return to El Paso and comply with immigration check-ins as their asylum claim proceeds. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

The case has intensified scrutiny of Dilley, a remote facility criticized by advocates for its treatment of children and the quality of on-site services. Gael had been receiving evaluations and therapy prior to detention; his legal team says returning him to community-based care and pediatric follow-up is now the family’s urgent priority while they continue to pursue asylum.