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By Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant
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A 2-year-old Venezuelan girl who had been separated from her parents due to U.S. deportation policies arrived Wednesday in Caracas, reuniting with her mother amid international controversy. Maikelys Espinoza returned aboard a flight carrying over 220 deported migrants.
Venezuelan state television broadcast images of First Lady Cilia Flores holding the child at the airport before personally delivering her to her mother at the presidential palace, where President Nicolás Maduro was also present.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment via email Wednesday afternoon.
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Why It Matters
Venezuela's government has repeatedly condemned the separation as a "kidnapping," criticizing U.S. immigration enforcement. The United States justified the deportation by alleging that the girl's parents were linked to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based criminal gang recently designated a terrorist organization by President Donald Trump.
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What To Know
The child's mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25. Her father had been previously transferred to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, as part of a sweeping Trump administration policy invoking an 18th-century wartime law to accelerate deportations.
As Newsweek Argentina reported in April, the Maduro government denounced the Trump administration's move, saying that by deporting both parents, the U.S. had effectively kidnapped their little girl.
The mother, Yorley Inciarte, later spoke with ABC News, explaining that her daughter was born in Venezuela, not the U.S., and that she was waiting for the Trump administration to offer evidence to back the claims about her alleged gang affiliation.
The family of three entered the U.S. in 2024, claiming asylum, and were separated by immigration officials. The parents eventually asked for deportation so they could be reunited with their daughter.
The Venezuelan government promised to use all its powers to secure her return. At the time, the U.S. government said that she was in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and had been placed with a foster family.
For years, the government of Maduro had mostly refused the entry of immigrants deported from the U.S. But since Trump took office this year, hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, including some 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been deported to their home country.
The Trump administration has stated that the Venezuelans sent to Guantanamo and El Salvador are members of the Tren de Aragua, but has offered little evidence to support the allegation.
What People Are Saying
Yorley Inciarte told ABC News: "Everything is false. Here I am waiting for the evidence they have because if they are accusing me, it's because they have proof of what they are saying—but here I am waiting."
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, speaking Wednesday on the relationship with the U.S.: "There have been and will be differences, but it is possible, with God's blessing, to move forward and resolve many issues. I hope and aspire that very soon we can also rescue Maikelys' father and the 253 Venezuelans who are in El Salvador."
The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement: "The child's father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona is a lieutenant of Tren De Aragua who oversees homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house. The child's mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte oversees recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution."
What Happens Next
Inciarte has said that she will never abandon her homeland again, because officials there had supported her.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Update 5/14/25, 1:41 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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