The Trump administration has been accused by Venezuela of the “abduction” of a 2-year-old girl after her migrant parents were deported from the U.S. without her.
Sold on the American dream, Venezuelan parents Yorely Bernal, 20, and Maiker Espinoza, 25, who met while living in Peru, came to the United States with their daughter in May 2024 while Joe Biden was still in office.
But their life changed after President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20.
The president has introduced hardline immigration policies, and has become obsessed with rooting out the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which was founded in 2014 in the Tocorón prison in the state of Aragua. The Trump administration has designated the gang a “foreign terrorist organization”.
The Trump administration has accused the couple, without evidence, of being part of this gang, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The couple’s relatives told The Times they were detained by authorities over their “suspicious” tattoos, and their toddler, Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal—known as Antonella—was sent into foster care.
Acuso al gobierno estadounidence por el secuestro de mi nieta maikelys
Posted by Raida Inciarte on Friday 25 April 2025
Antonella’s mother Yorely Bernal has the birth years of her own parents inked on her neck, along with a lightning bolt, a small flame and a serpent, her mother told the publication. According to a statement given to authorities, Espinoza’s tattoos include the cartoon characters Yosemite Sam and Marvin the Martian, as well as a cross, a crown and a compass with a plane.
According to The Times, internal government documents indicate that the Trump administration is citing tattoos to label people as members of the gang.
In a statement to the newspaper, the Department of Homeland Security accused Espinoza of being a “lieutenant” of the Venezuelan gang, claiming he oversaw criminal operations and even a “torture house.” The DHS alleged the girl’s mother recruited “young women for drug smuggling and prostitution.”
“President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem take their responsibility to protect children seriously,” the DHS said. “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to be exposed to criminal activity that endangers her safety.”
Espinoza was deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador on March 30. Nearly one month later, on April 25, Yorely Bernal was deported to Caracas, Venezuela—alone.
Bernal’s mother, Raida Inciarte, told The Times that during a video call in late April, her daughter said she had been assured by U.S. officials that Antonella would be on the flight with her. She even allegedly showed her an official immigration document with the toddler’s name on it, which she claimed showed the 2-year-old would be leaving the U.S. with her.
Toddler Antonella remains in foster care in the U.S., and the Trump administration has not indicated if, or when, she will be reunited with her family, The Times said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the DHS for comment.
Gobierno de Venezuela envió una nota de protesta al gobierno de EEUU por el secuestro de la niña de 2 años de Yorely Bernal, EEUU respondió y el Gobierno de Venezuela replicó nuevamente por no estar satisfecho con lo que contestaron “puras mentiras”. pic.twitter.com/yoBNSIi4O3
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) April 29, 2025
On Monday, Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro lashed out at the Trump administration.
“This is a crime whichever way you see it, taking a 2-year-old girl away from a migrant mother just because she is a migrant and a Venezuelan,” he said during his weekly television program.
Maduro added: “And accusing her without evidence of being a member of a criminal gang, and using it as an excuse to steal her child, is a crime under any international law.”
Venezuela’s foreign ministry on Monday also denounced “the abduction by U.S. authorities of the young Venezuelan Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, aged 2.”
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