The Trump administration is under fire after deporting two migrant parents—one to Venezuela, the other to El Salvador—while keeping their 2-year-old daughter in the United States, separated and in foster care. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the U.S. government of “abduction,” calling the case “a crime under any international law.”
Yorely Bernal Inciarte, 20, and Maiker Espinoza Escalona, 25, came to the U.S. in 2024, hoping to escape hardship in South America. Instead, they found themselves separated from their daughter and accused of gang involvement without any public evidence.
After the family turned themselves in at the U.S. border, their daughter, Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal—known as Antonella—was taken into government custody, while her parents were sent to separate detention centers in Texas. At the time, their asylum case was still being processed. But when Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, everything changed.
After months of detention, the couple asked to be deported in hopes of being reunited with their daughter back home. But that didn’t happen.
Maiker was deported first—sent to Guantanamo Bay and then to the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador on March 30. Yorely was deported weeks later on April 25. When she boarded the plane to Venezuela, she says she was promised her daughter would be with her.
“I started yelling at the officers asking where my baby was,” Yorely told ABC News. “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers ignored me.”
She said she even showed her mother an official document listing Antonella’s name for the flight—but the 2-year-old never got on the plane. Instead, she remains in foster care under the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Trump administration has accused the couple, without evidence, of being part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
DHS has labeled Maiker a “lieutenant” who runs a “torture house” and accusing Yorely of recruiting women for drug smuggling and prostitution. But neither has been convicted of any crime in the U.S. or Venezuela.
“If it’s true, release the evidence,” Yorely said. “Release the proof that we are Tren de Aragua. They took a child away from their mother and they’re telling lies about us.”
A review of public records found no criminal charges against Maiker. Yorely was charged only with improper entry into the U.S., to which she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served.
Their family believes the accusations stem from their tattoos. “My daughter has a tattoo of the year I was born and the year her dad was born,” Yorely’s mother said. “She also has the name of her son and some flowers on her chest.” Maiker, a tattoo artist and barber, had various tattoos but no ties to organized crime, his relatives insist.
“My brother is a 25-year-old guy, a dreamer, like all Venezuelans,” his sister Marly said. “He loves cutting hair… he emigrated to have a better life.”
Venezuela’s government is demanding answers. “The U.S. government is robbing Venezuelan children,” said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. On national television, President Maduro said: “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.”
So far, the U.S. has not responded to international calls to reunite Antonella with her family. Bernal, now back in Caracas, says she doesn’t even know who to contact.
“I wouldn’t wish this on any mother,” Yorely said.
