An undocumented resident who crossed the border back to Mexico to accompany his dying mother has finally been allowed back into the U.S. to complete his education at Harvard University, where he will be starting his junior year, the Associated Press reported.

Dario Guerrero Meneses, who has family in California, crossed the border to Mexico to accompany his mother for alternative cancer treatments this summer.

She died in August, and Meneses was told he deported himself by crossing the border and was not allowed to re-enter.

Just hours after the AP reported the story on Tuesday, Meneses was told he could enter the U.S. after being granted humanitarian parole.

This does not allow him legal residency and is not a pathway to citizenship, but it allows him two years in the country -- enough time to complete his education at Harvard.

His attorney, Alan Klein, told AP, "This is the perfect (humanitarian parole) case. He knew that he could possibly give up his right to be here so he could take care of his mother. He's the reason we have immigration, and he's the reason we have a Statue of Liberty because he is what we want here."

Undocumented immigrants in Meneses's position traditionally have to apply for permission before leaving in order to be allowed to come back into the country, but after being delayed by the system as his mother's health worsened, he said he had no choice.

Meneses told the AP he applied for the travel permission, and then waited a month and a half for a response. He also applied twice for fast-track handling, but was told he needed to more fully document his mother's condition.

The last option would have been to plead his case in person, but having already spent more than a month working the system, Meneses decided to simply leave and care for his mother.

While Meneses did break the rules, he was one of the lucky ones to be allowed back in.

Miami-based immigration attorney Ira Kurzban told AP immigrants can lose their legal status in many ways, including leaving on a cruise -- or like in Meneses' case for a family emergency -- and are often barred from re-entry for a decade.