A 2-year-old girl who was left in the United States after both her parents were removed from the country, sparking an international custody dispute, has been returned to Venezuela, according to the child’s family and the Venezuelan government.
Toddler left in U.S. custody after parents were deported is returned to Venezuela
The case sparked concern about the potential for family separations as the Trump administration looks to expedite removals.
Updated
May 15, 2025 The Washington Post
On Wednesday, Venezuela’s state television showed video of the nation’s first lady, Cilia Flores, holding Maikelys in her arms at the airport. The child’s grandmother said her family was rushing to reunite with her. Venezuela’s leaders were celebrating her arrival.
“This has been a battle,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said as the first lady stroked the little girl’s hair. “A battle every day, and today we are victorious.”
Yorely Bernal, the toddler’s mother, was deported without her daughter nearly two weeks ago, despite signing paperwork for her child to be deported with her. She had spent months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in South Texas separated from her.
The child was returned due to a court order, Tricia McLaughlin, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement.
The Trump administration said it did not reunite the child with the parents because the child’s father, Maiker Espinoza, was allegedly a lieutenant of the Tren de Aragua gang who purportedly oversaw homicides and other illicit activity. They accused Bernal of recruiting young women for drug smuggling and prostitution. The government said at the time that Maikelys was not deported with her mother for her “safety and welfare.”
“ICE defers to the government of Venezuela to advise if the child is with the mother or in government custody, but at least we know the child will not be with her TDA [Tren de Aragua] father who operated a torture house and oversaw homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, and sex trafficking for the criminal gang — Thanks to President Trump, this terrorist gang member is locked up in CECOT [prison],” McLaughlin said.
DHS did not provide a reporter with any evidence to back up its allegations, nor had the parents’ lawyer found any such evidence. The parents do not have criminal records in Venezuela, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post, and they were apprehended and detained as soon as they entered the United States last year.
The separation of the child from her parents raised fears in advocacy circles about the potential return of a new form of family separation. During President Donald Trump’s first term, more than 5,000 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The couple crossed the U.S. border with Maikelys, then 1, in May last year. They both had tattoos, and Espinoza was questioned about gang affiliation by a Border Patrol agent, according to a document obtained by The Post.
The parents were both detained while their child was put in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The parents were initially going to seek asylum but instead asked to be deported, believing it would reunite them with their daughter, according to their lawyer.