Kidnapped mother is released in Mexico two weeks after son was found abandoned by Texas border agent


The kidnapped mother of a 10-year-old boy who was found crying and pleading for help by a Border Patrol officer in Texas has been released by her captors. 

Meylin Obregón was released by her captors in a remote area in northern Mexico, her brother Misael Obregón announced Wednesday. 

Meylin’s son Wilton made headlines after he was seen on video begging a U.S. Border Patrol officer for help after he had been abandoned in Texas.

In late March, Meylin Obregón and Wilton Obregón illegally crossed the Mexico-United States border and were intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol and forced to return back to Mexico. 

But within an hour of returning to Mexico, the mother and her son were reportedly kidnapped and held for $10,000 ransom.

 Meylin’s family had only enough money to pay for Wilton to be released.

Meylin Obregón was freed by her kidnappers Wednesday in northern Mexico. Her release comes two weeks after her son, Wilton Obregón, was found wandering in Texas near the United-States border. The Nicaraguan 10-year-old boy appeared in a video crying and asking a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help

Meylin Obregón was freed by her kidnappers Wednesday in northern Mexico. Her release comes two weeks after her son, Wilton Obregón, was found wandering in Texas near the United-States border. The Nicaraguan 10-year-old boy appeared in a video crying and asking a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help

Still image of Wilton Obregón pleading to a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help

Still image of Wilton Obregón pleading to a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help

After Wilton was released from his captors, he was able to again cross into the United States with more than 100 people – and was found on April 1 by CBP agents when he was abandoned by the group.

 On Wednesday, Meylin’s brother revealed that she had finally been released by her captors. 

‘I have the best news in the world. Thanks to my beautiful God, my sister has been freed, oh my holy God,’ Misael Obregón said on a YouTube video posted Wednesday.

Meylin Obregón told Univision that group who kidnapped her decided to release her because it wasn’t in their best interests to keep her captive.

‘They told me that it was not convenient for them to have me there, that they would leave me somewhere else,’ the 30-year-old mother-of-two said. ‘They left me in an abandoned area alone.’

Misael Obregón posted a video on his YouTube channel Wednesday to reveal that his sister, Meylin Obregón, had been released by her captors. He paid $5,000 to the abductors to secure the freedom of his kidnapped nephew, Wilton Obregón

Misael Obregón posted a video on his YouTube channel Wednesday to reveal that his sister, Meylin Obregón, had been released by her captors. He paid $5,000 to the abductors to secure the freedom of his kidnapped nephew, Wilton Obregón

Obregón said she sought help from authorities on the Mexican side of the border and asked asylum. She said her plans include presenting herself before U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and turning herself in to begin the process and hopefully be reunited with her son in Miami.  

The family’s initial attempt to seek asylum from the United States went awry after they departed from Nicaragua on February 8. 

According to Misael Obregón, only he and his sister were aware of the trip that he funded so that she, her son, Wilton Obregón, and Misael’s 15-year-old twin sons could migrate to America. 

Nicaraguan newspaper LA PRENSA reported that mother and son sought to distance themselves from alleged abuse she had suffered at the hands of her partner and the boy’s father, Lazaro Gutiérrez. The former couple are parents to another son, Devin Gutiérrez, who lives in Nicaragua.  

Meylin Obregón told Univision that she plans to turn herself over to U.S. immigration officials at the Mexico-United border and seek asylum

Meylin Obregón told Univision that she plans to turn herself over to U.S. immigration officials at the Mexico-United border and seek asylum

Meylin Obregón and the children crossed the border in late March, but were intercepted by immigration agents in Texas. She and her son were expelled to Mexico. However, the twin boys were allowed to remain in the United States because they were considered unaccompanied children and eventually reunited with their dad April 6. 

Upon returning to northern Mexico, Meylin Obregón and Wilton Obregón were kidnapped by a local gang.

The kidnappers then contacted the Misael Obregón, who was able to borrow enough money from friend in Miami to pay the $5,000 ransom for his nephew. Meylin Obregón remained in custody of the abductors because her brother was unable to come up with the additional $5,000 that the gang had requested to allow her to walk.

The family’s heartbreaking saga was highlighted by a video recorded by a U.S. Border Patrol agent April 1 that showed a sobbing Wilton Obregón approached him and asked to be rescued after he had been left behind in the Texas desert by a group of migrants he has crossed the border with.

‘I was coming with a group and they abandoned me and I do not know where they are at,’ the child told the officer in Spanish.

The border agent, who asked CBP not to publicly identify him, asked the Obregón if he had been instructed ‘to come ask for help,’ but the Obregón replied, ‘no, I am coming because if I did not, where am I going to go? Somebody could abduct me, kidnap me. I am scared.’ 

As an unaccompanied minor, Obregón was immediately placed in custody of CBP and taken to a local holding facility.

He is currently being held at Casa Padre, a shelter operated by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of Health & Human Services, in Brownsville, Texas.

Obregón’s legal status could possibly set a series of court battles. 

Wilton Obregón and his mother Meylin Obregón

Wilton Obregón and his mother Meylin Obregón

Meylin Obregón expects to reunite with her son as soon as U.S. immigration authorities permit her to enter the country and placed the boy in the custody of her brother or her.

On Tuesday, the Nicaraguan government filed a formal request, signed by his father, Lázaro Gutiérrez, so that his son could be repatriated.   

Nonetheless, Gutiérrez told Nicaraguan newspaper LA PRENSA that he would not stand in the way of Wilton Obregón’s desire to stay in the U.S. He added that the government preferred that the child be reunited with him because they considered him to be his living parent.

That all changed Wednesday when Meylin Obregón was released. 

‘I told him not to worry, that everything would be fine,’ Obregón said.

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