CARACAS (Reuters) -A Venezuelan toddler separated from her parents after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border together a year ago and who remained in the U.S. when they were deported arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday, where President Nicolas Maduro thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for her return.
Major figures in Venezuela’s socialist government, which is under extensive U.S. sanctions, had repeatedly called for Maikelys Espinoza Bernal, aged two, to be returned to her mother, Yorely Bernal, who was deported to Venezuela in April.
Images on state television showed First Lady Cilia Flores holding the child, who arrived on a removals flights with other migrants, at the international airport near Caracas. The girl was later reunited with her mother and maternal grandmother at the presidential palace, in the company of Maduro.
"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 baby’s father, Maiker Espinoza, 25, was sent to CECOT, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent at least 137 Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, in March.
The Department of Homeland Security said in late April that Espinoza is a "lieutenant" in Tren De Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang. They said he oversees "homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house," though they provided no evidence.
Espinoza’s family roundly denied the claim to Reuters.
"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 said the child’s mother Bernal recruited young women for drug smuggling and sex work, though it also provided no evidence. The family has also denied the claim.
In a later post on X, DHS said the child in question was repatriated to Venezuela pursuant to a court order.
It added that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement defers to the Venezuelan government to advise whether the child is with the mother or in government custody.
"At least we know the child will not be with her TDA father", the agency said.
The couple met while living as migrants in Peru, where their daughter was born, Espinoza’s mother Escalona said, adding they were in migrant detention during their entire stay in the United States after turning themselves in at the border.
The toddler has been in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the U.S. since May 2024.
NEGOTIATION?
The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the girl’s return.
Some political experts in Venezuela speculate it may be tied to the departure from Venezuela of opposition members who had been living in the Argentine diplomatic residence.
The five people, as well as the elderly mother of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, all left the country last week in what the U.S. and the opposition said was a coordinated operation that surprised Caracas.
The Venezuelan government however, has since said the exit of the five, who all had warrants out for their arrests on conspiracy charges that they deny, was agreed in a negotiation. It has not provided more details or any information about the terms of the alleged deal.
Many other families of the men deported to CECOT have denied their loved one had any involvement with Tren de Aragua. Dozens of the men had active asylum cases.