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Caracas, Venezuela – A two-year-old girl, Maikelys Espinoza, was reunited with her mother in Caracas on Wednesday after being separated from her parents due to their deportation from the U.S. The Venezuelan government had previously condemned the separation as a kidnapping.
Maikelys arrived at an airport outside Caracas with over 220 other deported migrants. State television footage showed First Lady Cilia Flores carrying the child upon arrival and later handing her over to her mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, who was waiting at the presidential palace with President Nicolás Maduro.
President Maduro embraced the reunion, stating, “Here is everyone’s beloved little girl. She is the daughter and granddaughter of all of us.”
The U.S. government justified the separation last month, alleging the parents’ ties to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang, which was designated a terrorist organization by former President Trump earlier this year. Maikelys’ mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25th, while her father was sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March under an 18th-century wartime law invoked by former President Trump to deport hundreds of immigrants.
While the Maduro government had previously resisted accepting deportees from the U.S., hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have been deported since former President Trump took office, including approximately 180 held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Trump administration claimed these individuals, including those sent to El Salvador, were members of Tren de Aragua but provided limited evidence.
President Maduro expressed gratitude to former President Trump and his then-envoy Richard Grenell for facilitating Maikelys’ return, calling it a “profoundly humane” act. Grenell had met with Maduro in Caracas shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
Referencing the strained relationship between the two governments, Maduro stated, “There have been and will be differences, but it is possible, with God’s blessing, to move forward and resolve many issues.” He further expressed hope for the return of Maikelys’ father and 253 other Venezuelans held in El Salvador.