Amanda reunited with two of her children deported from the US. Photo: Instagram/@madeleintelesur.
The 30th flight of the Venezuelan government’s Return to the Homeland Plan arrived this Friday, June 5, at the Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetía, in La Guaira state, Venezuela. The flight brought 192 Venezuelans repatriated from the United States. Among them were 10 minors, of whom two children, ten-year-old Josué and nine-year-old Yasmely, reunited with their family after experiencing the anguish of family separation in the US.
“This is very bad, if they want to deport us, they should deport us all together,” said Yasmely, expressing the fear that many Venezuelan children experience at the possibility of being permanently separated from their families during the deportation process from the United States.
In an exclusive interview for Telesur, Yasmely expressed her happiness at having been reunited with her mother, Amanda, after the sorrow of witnessing the deportation of numerous families, which she experienced firsthand.
Yasmely confessed that she was afraid of being transferred to another family and never being with her parents and siblings again. Her mother, Amanda, shared this concern about the possibility of her children being separated from each other and not being able to have them all by her side again. Both thanked the Venezuelan government for taking the necessary steps to ensure the return of children separated from their parents.
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When asked about life in the United States, both the mother and the child said that they had received discriminatory treatment because of their Venezuelan nationality. They added that they were relieved to be in their homeland, where they were received with love.
Amanda expressed the immense fear that she felt of being separated from all her children, highlighting the case of her eldest daughter, a 17-year-old who was detained for five months in an adult prison despite being a minor.
Both Amanda and Yasmely agreed that leaving their country was not worth it, and stressed that they would never leave again, given the harsh conditions faced by Venezuelan migrants in the United States.
The parents of these children suffered the anguish of separation and the pressure of the possible adoption of their children in the US, in addition to the attempted murder of their 17-year-old daughter during her detention in a US penitentiary.
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Each member of this family was deported separately, which was very distressing, according to Amanda. First, Amanda, the mother, was deported, then the eldest daughter, followed by the father. But the two youngest children remained in the US for longer.
The chief of the Return to the Homeland Great Mission, Anahí Arizmendi, supervised the arrival of this flight, which included these two children with special needs. In a statement to Telesur, she said that the Venezuelan government has insisted that the United States deport families together to avoid the separation of minors from their parents. The Venezuelan government has worked for the reunification of minors separated from their parents, as in the case of Maikelys Espinoza. The Venezuelan authorities currently have a list of 18 cases of Venezuelan children in the US who remain separated from their parents.
This fact contradicts the US government’s claims that Venezuela is not receiving its deported citizens and has threatened to suspend visas for tourism, trade, business, treatment, and student exchange.
The Venezuelan government has repudiated the persecution of Venezuelans in the US and the creation of false narratives to justify its treatment of migrants.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
