A two-year-old was entered into the foster care system in the U.S. after her Venezuelan parents were deported to El Salvador and Venezuela. The Department of Homeland Security alleges they are Tren de Aragua members.
Yorely Bernal Inciarte and Maiker Espinoza Escalona arrived in the U.S. on May 14 last year with their child Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal. Neither held valid entry documents so they immediately surrendered to immigration authorities, according to ABC News.
Both parents were placed in separate detention centers in Texas. while their daughter was placed in government custody, Inciarte said. She told ABC News she was able to speak with her daughter on video call and with Escalona over the phone. She also said that she and Escalona were never released from detention in the U.S.
Inciarte was abruptly returned to Venezuela earlier this month, but without her daughter. She was then shocked to learn that Escalona had been sent first to Guantanamo Bay and then to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador on March 30, meaning their child was without access to their parents.
"When I saw him in a video in El Salvador, I was in shock," Inciarte said. "I couldn't stop crying and yelling... I wouldn't wish this on any mother."
Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security labeled Inciarte and Escalona as "Tren de Aragua parents," alleging the two are members of the Venezuelan gang.
"The child's father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona is a lieutenant of Tren de Aragua who oversees homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house," DHS said in a statement over the weekend. "The child's mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte oversees recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution."
"The child remains in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and is currently placed with a foster family," DHS added.
The family's plight has enraged President Nicolas Maduro, who accused Washington of engaging in "abduction." Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello also alleged on a domestic radio show: "The U.S. government is robbing Venezuelan children."
Inciarte and her attorney denied the allegations against the family, encouraging DHS to release the evidence it has on them.
"If it's true, release the evidence," she challenged the Trump administration. "Release the proof that we are Tren de Aragua. They took a child away from their mother and they're telling lies about us."
ABC News also reported that they were not able to immediately find any criminal records of the two parents in their home country. Likewise, a review of county and federal records found no cases associated with Escalona. Meanwhile, the news outlet only located a federal criminal case against Inciarte for improper entry into the U.S. in 2024. According to the documents, Inciarte pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served and one business day.
Inciarte's mother Raida said she believed her daughter and Escalona are being accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua because of their tattoos but denied any association with the gang. "My daughter has a tattoo of the year I was born and the year her dad was born. She also has the name of her son and some flowers on her chest. Maiker is a tattoo artist and he would do her tattoos."
Raida has previously said of the Trump administration: "they are liars. I cannot believe that half of Venezuela is Tren de Aragua. That can't be."
Escalona's sister Marly said her sibling was a barber by profession, adding: "my brother is a 25-year-old guy, a dreamer, like all Venezuelans. He loves cutting hair. He finished high school, he took courses in barbering and set up his barbershop in Venezuela. But things got a bit tough in Venezuela, so he emigrated to have a better life."
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