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First lady of Venezuela, Cilia Flores, carries Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal upon her return to Venezuela at Simon Bolivar International Airport on May 14, 2025. (CNN via CNN Newsource)
By Michael Rios, Osmary Hernández and Ana Melgar, CNN
Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) — A Venezuelan toddler who had been kept in US government custody after her parents were deported has been returned to Venezuela.
Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal arrived at the Simón Bolívar International Airport on Wednesday on a repatriation flight from the US.
Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores carried the 2-year-old in her arms as officials announced the girl’s return to reporters gathered at the airport.
“Today we have a great victory,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said.
Venezuela had been demanding that the United States return the girl for weeks, accusing US officials of kidnapping her.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously denied the allegations and reiterated after their reunion that it was trying to protect Maikelys from her parents, whom they accused without evidence of being part of criminal group Tren de Aragua (TDA), which the US deems a foreign terrorist organization.
“The child’s mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, oversees recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution for Tren de Aragua. For the child’s safety, she was not removed with the mother,” DHS Public Affairs Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday.
Maikelys’ mother has rejected that claim.
McLaughlin also alleged that the father was an involved in the sale of illicit drugs and sex trafficking, among other crimes, and is “locked up in CECOT,” referring to El Salvador’s maximum security mega-prison.
Maikelys’ father believes he was accused of being a gang member because of his tattoos, but denies they have anything to do with gangs, according to his sworn declaration filed in court in early March.
DHS said the child was “repatriated to Venezuela pursuant to a court order,” after spending 302 days in the custody of Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In March, the US deported the father Maiker Espinoza-Escalona to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to the Venezuelan government. The mother Yorelys Bernal was later deported on a flight to Venezuela without her daughter.
On Wednesday, the girl was reunited with her mother and grandmother at the presidential palace in Caracas. State TV showed Bernal crying tears of joy as she held her daughter tightly in her arms.
President Nicolás Maduro said Venezuelan officials had coordinated with lawyers and rights groups in the US to secure the girl’s return.
“I have to thank in fairness Ambassador Richard Grenell, special envoy of (US) President Donald Trump, for his efforts. And with Ambassador Richard Grenell, thank President Donald Trump, as well,” he said.
“There have been and there will be differences, but it’s possible with God’s blessing to move forward.”
CNN has reached out to the US State Department’s Venezuela Affairs Unit for more information.
A family separated
The toddler and her parents entered the US in May 2024 to seek asylum, according to a court document filed by legal advocacy groups.
After their arrival, the couple were put in immigration detention while their daughter was placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the father had said in a sworn declaration.
In July, he received a deportation order under the Biden administration. Between October and March, the couple had weekly, in-person visits with their daughter, Espinoza stated.
On March 29, Espinoza was sent to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where DHS has transferred migrants, according to court documents filed by his lawyers.
They said he was flown the following day to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot mega-prison, which the US is using to detain hundreds of Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being violent gang members, though it hasn’t provided strong evidence to back that claim.
The toddler’s mother was deported soon after her father was sent to El Salvador. She was forced to return to her country on a flight without her 2-year-old child, Venezuela said.
The girl was kept in ORR custody, with DHS saying, “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to be exposed to criminal activity that endangers her safety.”
In an email to CNN, ORR declined to provide details on the girl’s time in its custody, citing “privacy and security” concerns.
Bernal previously said she suspects US authorities linked her to Tren de Aragua because of her tattoos, which she says only record her family’s birth dates.
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