A two-year-old Venezuelan girl, Maikelys Espinoza Bernal, who was separated from her parents after crossing the US-Mexico border a year ago and left behind in the US when her parents were deported, arrived back in Venezuela on Wednesday.
President Nicolas Maduro publicly thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for her return.
The toddler’s mother, Yorely Bernal, was deported to Venezuela in April.
Venezuelan government officials, amid ongoing US sanctions on their socialist administration, had frequently called for Maikelys’s return.
Images broadcast on state television showed First Lady Cilia Flores holding the child at the international airport near Caracas after her arrival on a removals flight alongside other migrants.
The girl was later reunited with her mother and maternal grandmother at the presidential palace, with Maduro present.
“We must be thankful for all the efforts, for (Trump special envoy) Rich Grenell for his efforts…and thank Donald Trump too,” Maduro said, calling the child’s return “an act of justice.”
The toddler’s father, Maiker Espinoza, 25, was sent in March to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador where at least 137 Venezuelans have been detained under the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in late April that Espinoza is a “lieutenant” in Tren De Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang.
They accused him of overseeing “homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house,” though no evidence was provided.
Espinoza’s family strongly denied the allegations. “At no time has my son been involved with them,” his mother, Maria Escalona, told Reuters this month. “I think this is political – they are using the case of my son to cover up the horror that is being committed against all these innocents.”
DHS also accused the child’s mother Bernal of recruiting young women for drug smuggling and sex work, again without evidence. The family denied these claims as well.
Later, DHS posted on X that the child was repatriated to Venezuela pursuant to a court order.
The agency added that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement defers to the Venezuelan government on whether the child is with the mother or in government custody.
“At least we know the child will not be with her TDA father,” DHS said.
The couple met as migrants in Peru, where their daughter was born. According to Espinoza’s mother Escalona, they were detained throughout their stay in the United States after surrendering at the border.
Since May 2024, the toddler had been in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US
The US Department of State did not immediately comment on the child’s return.
Some Venezuelan political analysts speculate the repatriation might be linked to the recent departure from Venezuela of several opposition figures who had been residing in the Argentine diplomatic residence.
Last week, five opposition members and the elderly mother of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado left the country in what the US and opposition called a coordinated operation that caught Caracas by surprise.
The Venezuelan government, however, stated the departure was the result of an agreed negotiation but has not disclosed details or terms of the alleged deal.
Many families of men deported to CECOT have denied involvement with the Tren de Aragua gang. Dozens of these men had active asylum claims.
(Reuters)
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