A Venezuelan family’s harrowing, 10-country trek to New York City, with their pit bull in tow

Using cars for transportation, the family crossed parts of Ecuador and Colombia in late April. Then a four-day walk through the jungles of northern Colombia landed them in Panamá.

“He was so tough. He just kept walking with us. He’s not just a dog. He’s like our brother now,” Sebastian, 9, said.

Determined to get Max into the United States, the family said they got him on several buses by wrapping him in a blanket and passing him off as a child.

“Costa Rica was hard to get through. Once they realized Max was a dog, they asked us to get off the bus,” Crisman said. “But we kept trying.”

After weeks of sleeping on cardboard and safely navigating their way through Mexico, the family crossed the Rio Grande and turned themselves in to immigration authorities in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 19.

Asking for asylum and searching for Max

The Urbaez family asked for asylum upon crossing the border.

But immigration officials did not want to accept Max into the country. They told Anabel to think of her children and leave the dog behind.

“But I just couldn’t,” Anabel said. “Not after everything he’s gone through with our family.”

Sebastian and his 6-year-old sister, Criszanyelis, began to cry as the family begged immigration officers to allow them to take Max with them, to no avail.

“There was one officer, who I believe God put in our path,” Anabel told CNN. “I’m so thankful for him. He also cried a bit. He then told me he took Max to a shelter and gave me the address for the shelter so I could go look for him once we were released.”

The immigration officer, according to Anabel, recognized Max from articles that were published by Latin American news outlets, which had covered the family’s unusual journey. The Mexican news outlet Posta nicknamed the dog “Max, the migrant dog.”

After release, the family trekked to the dog shelter to retrieve Max. But the shelter told them they had released Max to a man who claimed he was related to the family. The Urbaez family was able to locate the man – a fellow migrant who had traveled with the family, according to Anabel. He agreed to return Max if they picked him up in Uvalde, Texas.

With the help of a stranger who offered to give the family a ride, the Urbaezes were reunited with Max the next day.

They then found themselves in Uvalde Memorial Park, where Criszanyelis left a toy at the memorial set up for the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting, Anabel said.

The urban jungle

After release from US custody, immigration officials in Texas had directed the Urbaez family to a shelter in New York City and scheduled a meeting with immigration court.

The family, with Max safely in its custody, was now determined to reach New York and appear before a judge.

With the help of a stranger, who came across the Urbaezes stranded at a gas station, the family caught a ride to San Antonio, where they hoped to find more help.

In San Antonio, they approached an organization that provides assistance to immigrants (Anabel does not recall the group’s name but said all workers wore blue jackets).

“They helped us out and got us plane tickets to New York City but when they realized we had a dog, they canceled our tickets.” Crisman said.

The family told CNN they begged the organization for help, and they finally agreed to get the family bus tickets to New York City. The Urbaezes spent three days on the road, the couple said, before arriving in New York just before midnight on June 27.

The family arrived at Port Authority and began searching for the shelter immigration officials in Texas had pointed out. After asking for directions several times, they found the shelter but were refused entry because the organization only assists domestic violence survivors, not entire families, according to Anabel.