Maduro Gov’t Calls for the Return of 18 Venezuelan Children ‘Abducted’ in the US
Caracas, July 2, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government called on the US to return 18 Venezuelan children whose migrant parents were detained and later deported without them.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez joined a group of mothers in demanding the children’s prompt return to their families in Venezuela. These women are recent arrivals who returned on deportation flights after being held in immigration centers and having their children taken away.
“These abducted children have committed no crime, nor have their parents, who are now subjected to the cruel punishment of family separation,” Rodríguez declared.
He highlighted the case of one-year-old Gloriannys Daniela Molina Machado, separated from her mother at just five months old. “Her mother was taken to an ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention center without having committed any crime.”
The 18 minors aged between 1 and 12 are currently under US foster care.
Rodríguez said some of the fathers were among 252 Venezuelan men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison in March after being expelled from the US without due process under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. The Nicolás Maduro government has sought legal and diplomatic action to free the Venezuelan nationals, but has faced resistance from El Salvador’s President Bukele.
“How is this different to Nazi Germany?” exclaimed Rodríguez, comparing the US-El Salvador agreement to forcefully detain migrants to Nazi concentration camps.
The missing 18 Venezuelan minors follow the same pattern as a recent high-profile case of two-year-old Maikelys Antonella Espinoza. In April, Caracas accused Washington of abducting Espinoza, whose migrant parents were deported separately—her mother back to Venezuela and her father to El Salvador’s high-security prison. After a year under US foster care, the toddler was repatriated to Venezuela and reunited with her mother in May following efforts by the Maduro government.
Caracas has pledged to continue to pressure international bodies for the return of the 18 children, the 252 men in CECOT, as well as Venezuelans who remain in ICE detention centers.
“We will not rest until we achieve the return of every one of them,” Rodríguez concluded.
President Maduro has likewise expressed concern over the fate of the 18 children being held in the US. During his weekly broadcast on Monday, he called for their immediate return, affirming that his government is engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration to secure their repatriation.
Maduro went on to forcefully criticize the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, for not addressing the violation of migrants’ rights amidst Trump’s mass deportation campaign, as well as the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The president likewise rejected a recent report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council by Türk, which accused his government of human rights violations between May 2024 and May 2025, including “arbitrary detentions, violations of due process and enforced disappearances.”
“Türk’s biased agenda appears to serve the interests of Washington and European elites, working against the countries of the Global South,” Maduro asserted.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved declaring Türk persona non grata and recommending the Caribbean country’s withdrawal from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
On June 27, Venezuelan UN representative Alexander Yánez, accompanied by five family members of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador, addressed the UN Human Rights Council to reject the “politicized” report and accuse Türk of double standards.
Yánez criticized the omission by the UN official of violent actions by Venezuelan far-right forces following the July 2024 presidential election, as well as the lack of response to detained migrants in the US and El Salvador, held without due process.
List of the 18 children being held in the US
- Mía Zamara Suárez Rodríguez – 4 years old
- Miran Alejandro Salas Torre – 4 years old
- Kendra de los Ángeles Salas Torre – 12 years old
- Ashlei Yassiel Hernández Peña – 6 years old
- Alanna Sophia Ballesteros Herrera – 1 year old
- Nicol Ireni Briceño Santana – 6 years old
- Alitz Irene Durán Uzcátegui – 3 years old
- Marelbis Valentina Parra Castellano – 9 years old
- Gloriannys Daniela Molina Machado – 1 year old
- Cristian Hurtado – 3 years old
- Yoleider Yoel Hernández Caricote – 11 years old
- Suseiner Hernández – 7 years old
- Aron Daniel Peña Cáceres – 9 years old
- Sofía Guillén Monserrat – 2 years old
- Aidan Isaac Acuña Marín – 4 years old
- Ethan Manuel Padilla Moyetones – 2 years old
- Richmari Inciarte Carrasquero – 12 years old
- Reiner Inciarte Carrasquero – 10 years old
Edited by José Luis Granados Ceja in México City, México.
Amended on July 5.