“A mother’s arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them,” Victor Hugo once wrote. But what happens when those arms are torn away? When a child is left without her mother, without her father, and without answers? For Maikelys Espinoza Bernal, a Venezuelan toddler, this nightmare became reality when she was separated from her family by the US government. But after weeks of anguish, a moment of relief has finally arrived.
Yorely Bernal, a young Venezuelan mother who was deported from the US in April without her 2-year old daughter, Maikelys, was reunited with her child on Wednesday, May 14, following widespread calls for the toddler’s release from US custody.
“We welcome our daughter Maikelys Espinoza, daughter and granddaughter of all of us,” said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, after the child was received at the presidential palace in Caracas.
“This victory belongs to all the people of Venezuela, but especially to the mothers and grandmothers!”
“Ripped from my arms by the US government”
Maikelys had been separated from her parents for almost a year, since their family was detained upon arriving at the US border in Texas on May 14, 2024.
Reports indicate that immigration authorities cited the young parent’s tattoos as justification for detaining them separately and placing the baby in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
After months of detention, Yorely was reportedly relieved when her deportation order for Venezuela came through, assuming that she would be reunited with Maikelys and sent back to their country together. Instead, immigration officers forced her onto her deportation flight without her daughter.
“They are criminals, because they are kidnapping Venezuelans, a 2-year-old girl,” Yorely said, after arriving in Venezuela without her child, as reported by ABC News.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on April 28, denouncing “the kidnapping by US authorities.” The government vowed to pursue all possible avenues to facilitate the toddler’s release from US custody and reunion with her mother.
The US government maintained that they were protecting the child – who is not a US citizen – from her parents. “Despite claims… that the US ‘kidnapped’ a child, the truth is DHS took action because both her parents are part of Tren De Aragua,” a US press statement reads.
The Trump administration has provided no evidence for their accusations, and the couple as well as their families firmly reject that they have any affiliation with the gang.
The girl’s father, Maiker Espinoza Escalona, was part of a contingent of more than 200 Venezuelans deported in March, first to Guantanamo Bay and later to the infamous CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador, where he remains, cut off from all communication. The detained migrants are accused by the US government of belonging to the criminal group Tren de Aragua. However, no charges were ever brought against them, and recent investigations found that up to 90% of the detainees have no criminal record at all.
Additionally, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to pave the way for their irregular deportation, a move that many experts say lacks a legal basis, especially given the fact that Trump administration officials admitted that Tren de Aragua is unlikely directed by the Venezuelan government – which the Venezuelan government has insisted for months. The use of a third country to detain immigrants has also been strongly criticized, especially one where those detained are not granted due process.
A mother’s plea
After launching multiple pleas to get her daughter back, Bernal wrote an emotional public letter in which she explained the facts: “We came to the United States looking for an opportunity after years of economic hardship, but instead of a better life, we were destroyed as a family. I was deported to Venezuela. My husband was sent to prison in El Salvador. And my one-year-old baby, my sweet Maikelys was left behind. Alone. In a foster care system. Since ORR took her in 2024, she’s been moved between three foster homes, including one where there were allegations of sexual abuse.”
Bernal also used the letter to express the enormous pain she felt at being away from a daughter who was taken from her: “I cry every day, knowing that she is somewhere without me, wondering where I am. I want her to know that I would never, ever abandon her. The day we are together again, she will wonder why the US government took a child from her parents. As a mother, I can’t sip water without thinking, ‘Will my baby be thirsty?’ I can’t sleep without wondering, ‘Is she warm? Is she safe? Is she afraid?’”
The family and the Venezuelan government succeeded in repatriating Maikelys
After several complaints, diplomatic pressure, and other actions, the Venezuelan government and the girl’s family succeeded in getting the US authorities to agree to repatriate the Venezuelan baby to the South American country. On May 14, together with more than 200 deported Venezuelan migrants, Maikelys returned to Caracas, where she was received by the First Lady, Cilia Flores, and the Secretary of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello.
A few hours later, the toddler was reunited with her mother, Yorely, at the Venezuelan presidential palace, where they met with President Maduro, who said: “Maikelys, welcome. The miracle has happened again. Thank God for bringing this beautiful girl to her mother’s arms. I ask and hope we can soon rescue Maikelys’ father and the 253 Venezuelans in El Salvador.” In addition, Maduro called on other Venezuelans outside the country to return.
Family separation: A pattern of US policy
The case of Maikelys has revived fears about the separation of families that happened during previous US administrations. Between 2017 and 2021, more than 4,600 children were separated from their parents, which caused deep concern among human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch.
Amid Trump’s crackdown on migrants, several other cases are emerging of children separated from their families by the US government. One such example is the story of Heidy Sánchez, a Cuban mother who was deported from Tampa Bay, Florida, without her 17-month-old daughter, whom she was still nursing.
Migrant children: “collateral damage”
Peoples Dispatch spoke with Michelle Ellner, Latin America campaign coordinator for CODEPINK, about the separation of parents and children seemingly becoming a disturbing regularity in US migration policy.
“Maikelys’s story is not an anomaly,” Ellner said. “It is a glimpse into a system designed to dehumanize. From sanctions that destroy economies to immigration policies that criminalize those who are just trying to survive.”
On the reasons behind the reunification of the mother and daughter, Ellner stated: “The US government ended up repatriating her, not of its own volition, but thanks to tireless pressure from her family, social organizations such as CODEPINK, public mobilization, and diplomatic efforts led by President Maduro and his envoy.”
Ellner points out that the contradictory actions of the US reveal the moral bankruptcy of its policy. She says it cant be true that this mother was too dangerous to take care of her daughter but then suddenly she was no longer dangerous. “The reality is that this decision was not humanitarian; it was a deeply racist maneuver, supported by lies. And Maikelys, a child of just two years old, ended up being the collateral damage of this policy.”
Maikelys’s mother expressed a similar sentiment. In Yorely’s words, “It’s not a glitch in the system. It’s a reflection of a system that pushes families to leave their homeland and then punishes them for trying to survive.”
For now, the danger of separation looms over Latin American migrant families in the United States.
A nightmare that becomes reality all too often, and that during the last few months seems to have acquired even more complex characteristics given the tripartite separation, namely, between the children who remain in the United States, the mothers deported to their country of origin, and the fathers imprisoned in a third country, without the possibility of legally defending themselves. Is this the new Trinity of migrants – the trinity of three spaces, of triple pain?
