President Maduro Receives Seven Children Separated From Their Families by US

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro received seven of the 31 migrant children separated from their families by US authorities. He received them at Miraflores Palace this Friday, July 18. The children were successfully repatriated through the Return to the Homeland Program.

President Maduro recently called on international organizations and the Catholic Church to help return the 252 Venezuelans held at the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador and the 31 minors, children of deportees, being held in the US, to Venezuelan soil to guarantee their full human rights.

One of the main criticisms of US immigration policy is that children, when separated from their parents, are placed with various foster families without the approval of their parents or legal guardians or any clear information about their current status.

With the arrival of these seven children, 24 remain to be rescued. President Maduro highlighted the “first very forceful gesture of the Cardinal of San Salvador,” who advocated for Venezuelan migrants, including children: “It is a beautiful gesture, and we also know that there are movements taking place where the Universal Catholic Church, our Catholic Church, is moving so that, sooner rather than later, we can rescue the 31 children who are kidnapped in the United States, safe and alive, and deliver them to the arms of their mothers.”

Reception at Maiquetía airport
Cilia Flores, deputy of the National Assembly and wife of President Maduro, reiterated Maduro’s firm commitment to the rescue and return of all Venezuelan children held in the US.

“President Maduro’s government is committed to working together until all the children who must be back in Venezuela are rescued, sooner rather than later,” she stated with visible emotion.

“Today, we are happy. We are going to hand these children over to their mothers, who are anxiously awaiting them,” she said, accompanied by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello to receive the children at Maiquetía International Airport. The children arrived from Texas, alongside other Venezuelans.

Minutes before the arrival of the minors was announced, Minister Cabello stated that “there is good news for Venezuelans.” He took the opportunity to condemn that the other Venezuelan citizens on board were “kidnapped and persecuted in the United States after US authorities went to pick them up at schools, workplaces, hospitals, and even grabbed them on the street.”

Previously, Cabello reported that a total of 8,283 Venezuelans have arrived in Venezuela on flights under the Return to the Homeland Program after being held and persecuted by US authorities.

The condemnation of the children’s separation from their immediate family members by US authorities has been a constant focus of the Venezuelan government. It took on greater relevance after the separation of baby Maikelys Espinoza, forcibly separated from her mother Yorelis Bernal on May 14, 2024. The girl’s father, Maikel Alejandro Espinoza, was detained and transferred without trial to the infamous CECOT detention center in El Salvador.

After two months of diplomatic efforts, on May 14, the United States yielded to Venezuelan demands to return Maikelys Espinoza to her mother. In the following weeks, the Bolivarian government stepped up its condemnation of other cases of minors arbitrarily separated from their parents who were deported.

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