NEAR NEWPORT, Ore. - There is a stunning new revelation in an Oregon family's fight to keep their foster son from being sent to Mexico - the boy's biological father says it may be best for his son to stay with the only parents he has ever known.

Roberto Valiente-Martinez, who is locked up in prison for the rape of two girls, has had a long time to think about the fate of his 2-year-old boy, Garbriel Allred.

In an interview from behind prison walls with a Univision reporter, he said his son should stay with the foster family who has raised him.

"It's the only family he knows," Valiente-Martinez said. "He has everything and if it means we take Gabriel and he's going to suffer, my son is better off there."

With Gabriel Allred's father in prison and his mother on the run from the law, the Brandt family has had the boy since he was 4 months old.

"I am his dad and I mean a lot to him," said Steve Brandt. "It's not just that - he means a lot to me."

The Oregon Department of Human Services has twice ruled that the boy, who was born in Oregon, should be sent to Mexico to live with his grandmother, who is a blood relative.

But Gabriel's biological father said the Brandts have taken great care of his son.

"They're giving him everything and they're giving him everything that I couldn't give him because I couldn't be there for him as his father," he said.

In a phone interview with the Brandt family, they wished to thank Valiente-Martinez for considering Gabriel's best interest.

"I want him to feel that I never meant to abandon him," said Valiente-Martinez. "I tried, and I'm still trying, to do everything for him and his family."

The Brandts are fighting to keep Gabriel. They are asking a court in Lincoln County to stop the state from taking the boy to Mexico.

Meanwhile, KATU News talked to a spokesperson from DHS about the father's statement that Gabriel is better off with the Brandts. The spokesperson said Valiente-Martinez is entitled to his opinion, but DHS is sticking by its opinion that the boy should be sent to Mexico.