Toddler separated from parents after US deportation, arrives in Venezuela

A two-year-old girl, who got separated from her parents in the United States by deportation, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday (May 14). 

The girl’s Venezuelan parents were deported without her from the US – a move that was criticised by the South American country and denounced as a kidnapping.

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Maikelys Espinoza arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, accompanied by over 220 deported migrants.

State television showed Venezuela’s first lady, Cilia Flores, carrying Maikelys at the airport. The girl was then handed over to her mother, who was waiting at the presidential palace along with President Nicolás Maduro.

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The US government has defended the deportation of the girl’s parents, which happened last month, claiming that they allegedly had links to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang, which was designated as a terrorist organisation by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The girl’s mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25, while her father was sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March amid Trump’s crackdown as the US president invoked an 18th-century wartime law to deport hundreds of immigrants.

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‘A great victory’

According to a Reuters report, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said that the toddler’s return has been “a battle every day and today we have a great victory.”

The Venezuelan government had refused entry to immigrants deported from the US previously, however, they allowed hundreds of Venezuelan migrants back in the country since Trump took office this year. The deported migrants also included some 180 people who spent up to 16 days at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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On Wednesday (May 14), President Maduro thanked Trump for the “profoundly humane act” as he received the little girl at the presidential palace in Caracas, reported AFP.

“There have been and will be differences, but it is possible, with God’s blessing, to move forward and resolve many issues,” Maduro said. “I hope and aspire that very soon we can also rescue Maikely’s father and the 253 Venezuelans who are in El Salvador.”