A Venezuelan child, who was in the custody of the United States government after his parents were deported, was returned to Venezuela.
Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal arrived at Simón Bolivar International Airport on Wednesday (14) on a US repatriation flight.
The first Venezuelan lady Cilia Flores carried the 2-year-old girl in her arms while authorities announced the girl’s return to reporters gathered at the airport.
“Today we have a great victory,” said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
Venezuela had been demanding that the United States would return the girl for weeks, accusing US officials to sequest her.
The US Department of Internal Security (DHS) previously denied the prosecution, arguing that the family was separated in an attempt to protect Makelys from their parents, whom they accused without proof of being part of the Aragua Tren (TDA) criminal group.
Maikelys’s mother rejected this claim.
In March, the US deported their father, Maker Espinoza-Escalona, for a maximum security arrest 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 met with her mother and grandmother at the presidential palace in Caracas. State TV showed Bernal crying with joy while holding her daughter in her arms.
President Nicolás Maduro said Venezuelan authorities, in coordination with lawyers and human rights groups in the US, worked to ensure the girl’s return.
“To be fair, I have to thank Ambassador Richard Grenell, special sent by the president (US) Donald Trump, for his efforts. And, along with Ambassador Richard Grenell, to thank President Donald Trump too,” he said.
“There was and there will be differences, but it is possible, with God’s blessing, to move on,” he added.
THE CNN Contact DHS and the US State Department of the US Department for more information.
A separate family
The child and his parents entered the US in May 2024 to ask for asylum, according to a legal document presented by legal defense groups.
Upon arrival, the couple was placed in immigration detention, while their daughter was placed in custody of the refugee resettlement office (Orr), the father said in a sworn statement.
In July, he received an order of deportation under the government of Joe Biden. Between October and March, the couple had weekly face -to -face visits with their daughter, Espinoza said.
On March 29, Espinoza was sent to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where DHS transferred migrants, according to judicial documents presented by its lawyers.
They said he was taken by plane the next day to Cecot’s famous prison in El Salvador that the US is using hundreds of Venezuelan migrants accusing violent gang members, although they have not provided evidence to prove this claim.
The child’s mother was deported shortly after the father was sent to El Salvador. She was forced to return to her country on a flight without her 2 -year -old daughter, Venezuela said.
The girl was maintained in the custody of Orr, with DHS saying, “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to expose criminal activities that put their safety at risk.”
Bernal said earlier that he suspects that US authorities called her to Aragua’s Tren because of their tattoos, which, according to her, record only their family’s birth dates.
This content was originally published in a child in the US after deportation of parents is returned to Venezuela on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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