Venezuelan toddler who was kept in US after parents were deported is returned to Venezuela
The Department of Homeland Security doubled down on allegations that the parents of a toddler, who was returned to Venezuela on Wednesday, are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
"This child was in the custody of Office of Refugee Resettlement for 302 days," DHS said in a post to X on Wednesday. "The child's mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, oversees recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution for Tren de Aragua."
The 2-year-old, Maikelys Antonella Espinoza, was returned to her home country two weeks after her mother, Yorley Inciarte, was deported to Venezuela. Espinoza’s father was sent to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador on March 30 under Title 8 authorities.
“[At] least we know the child will not be with her TDA 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,” DHS said in the post to X.
In a video posted to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's YouTube page, Maduro is seen greeting the toddler upon the toddler's return.
The child is seen in the video being carried by Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores before being handed over to her mother, Inciarte.
Espinoza's return comes after Maduro and other Venezuelan government officials accused the Trump administration of kidnapping the 2-year old.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security labeled Inciarte and her partner Maiker Espinoza Escalona as "Tren de Aragua parents," alleging the two are members of the Venezuelan criminal gang.
"Everything is false," Inciarte told ABC News in an interview last week. "Here I am waiting for the evidence they have because if they are accusing me, it's because they have proof of what they are saying -- but here I am waiting."
Inciarte was separated from her partner and daughter after they entered the U.S. last year and surrendered to authorities. After being held in a detention center for several months in Texas, Inciarte asked for a deportation order so she could be reunited with their child, who is not a U.S. citizen, one of their attorneys told ABC News.
But Inciarte ended up being deported without her daughter, who DHS said remained in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
"When my partner and my daughter arrive here, the only thing I [will] think about is staying here in my country," Inciarte told ABC News last week. "Because the only one who supported me and fought alongside me was my country, no one else."
