### Venezuelan Toddler Reunited with Family After Custody Battle with US Government

A Venezuelan girl, Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, has been reunited with her family after being held in US government custody while her parents were deported.

Arriving at Simón Bolívar International Airport on a repatriation flight from the US, the 2-year-old was carried by Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores. Government officials made the announcement about Maikelys' return to reporters at the airport. Venezuela had previously demanded the child's return, accusing the US of kidnapping her, a claim that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied. DHS argued that separating Maikelys from her parents was intended to protect her, alleging without evidence that her parents were involved with the criminal group Tren de Aragua (TDA), a claim the mother has denied.

The girl's father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, was deported in March to a prison in El Salvador, and her mother, Yorelys Bernal, was sent back to Venezuela without her daughter. Upon her arrival in Caracas, Maikelys was greeted by her emotional mother and grandmother at the presidential palace. State television captured Bernal's tearful reunion with her daughter.

President Nicolás Maduro explained that the Venezuelan government worked with lawyers and rights groups in the US to ensure the child's return. Legal advocacy groups had indicated through court documents that Maikelys and her parents had entered the US in May 2024 seeking asylum. During their detention, Maikelys was placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) while her parents remained in immigration detention.

In July, under a deportation order, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona was initially transferred to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being sent to El Salvador's Cecot mega-prison. The US has detained numerous Venezuelan migrants there, accusing them of gang affiliations without providing substantial evidence. Subsequent to his deportation, Yorelys Bernal was also deported back to Venezuela, leaving her daughter behind in ORR custody.

DHS maintained their decision to keep Maikelys in custody was to prevent her from potential abuse and involvement in criminal activities. Bernal, however, suggested that US authorities may have linked her to the Tren de Aragua gang due to her tattoos, which she insisted were family birthdate records. The family's struggle reflects broader tensions and complexities in the treatment of migrants and their children within the US immigration system.