A 2-year-old Venezuelan girl separated from her parents during a U.S. immigration enforcement operation has been returned to Venezuela, concluding weeks of diplomatic tensions and allegations of misconduct by American authorities. The child, Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, arrived Wednesday at Simón Bolívar International Airport aboard a repatriation flight with more than 220 deported migrants.
State television broadcast footage of First Lady Cilia Flores carrying the toddler into the terminal, where officials hailed her return as a "great victory." "Today we have a great victory," Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said at the airport. The girl was later reunited with her mother, Yorelys Bernal, and grandmother at the presidential palace in Caracas in a televised moment that showed the mother weeping as she embraced her child.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had retained custody of the girl even after deporting both parents, citing concerns about their alleged ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA). DHS maintained that the child was separated "to prevent exposure to criminal activity that endangers her safety." The agency did not provide public evidence substantiating its claims. The mother has denied any gang affiliation, stating she believes the suspicion stemmed from her tattoos, which she said represent family birth dates.
El primer Mandatario venezolano Nicolás Maduro logra el rescate de Maykelis Antonella Espinoza secuestrada en EE.UU.
Todos los venezolanos que Alzamos la voz por el retorno de la pequeña Maikelys Espinoza Lloramos de Felicidad.
Gracias Presidente @NicolasMaduro Dios lo… pic.twitter.com/AXdnWbq8Jv — Mario Becerra (@MariojBecerra) May 14, 2025
In March, U.S. officials deported Maikelys' father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, to El Salvador's maximum-security Cecot prison after transferring him to a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay. Venezuelan authorities say he was flown the next day to the prison, where the Trump administration is detaining hundreds of migrants suspected of criminal affiliations. The mother was deported separately to Venezuela in April, but without her daughter.
President Nicolás Maduro publicly thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and his special envoy, Richard Grenell, for facilitating the child's return. "I have to thank in fairness Ambassador Richard Grenell... and with Ambassador Richard Grenell, thank President Donald Trump, as well," Maduro said. "There have been and there will be differences, but it's possible with God's blessing to move forward."
The return of Maikelys comes amid heightened U.S. deportation efforts targeting Venezuelan migrants, many of whom had entered the U.S. seeking asylum. Under Trump's policy shift this year, hundreds of Venezuelans have been deported, including 180 held at Guantanamo Bay. The administration has invoked an 18th-century wartime law to expedite these removals, claiming national security threats from alleged gang activity.
Legal advocates in the U.S. say the family arrived in May 2024 to request asylum and were placed in immigration detention shortly thereafter. Court documents state that the parents were allowed weekly in-person visits with their daughter until the deportations began. The girl remained in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
At the Caracas event Wednesday, Maduro also called for the return of Maikelys' father and other detained Venezuelans. "I hope and aspire that very soon we can also rescue Maikelys' father and the 253 Venezuelans who are in El Salvador," he said.
