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Venezuela is demanding that a 2-year-old girl be returned to her family after the United States deported her parents and kept the toddler in government custody.The Venezuelan foreign ministry on Monday accused the U.S. of “kidnapping�� Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, saying she was separated from her mother as she was boarding a deportation flight back to Venezuela.It also said the girl’s father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, had been deported earlier by the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador.��(The U.S.) once again committed the extremely serious offense of separating families and removing a minor from her emotional environment and, in particular, from her biological mother,�� read a statement from the Venezuelan government on Monday.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied it kidnapped the girl, arguing it was trying to protect her from her parents, whom it accused without evidence of being part of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a Venezuelan gang the U.S. has designated a terror organization.The father believes he was accused of being a gang member because he has tattoos, but he denies they have anything to do with gangs, according to his sworn declaration filed in court in early March.In a Saturday statement, DHS said the toddler was removed from a deportation flight list “for her safety and welfare.�� She remains in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and has been placed with a foster family, it added.Video below: Venezuelan gang member arrested in GeorgiaThe toddler is one of several children to have been affected by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Last week, three U.S. citizen children �� including a 4-year-old with metastatic cancer �� were taken to Honduras with their undocumented mothers as the women were deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. White House border czar Tom Homan said the U.S. removed the children because their mothers “requested�� they stay with them rather than remain in the country.It’s unclear if Maikelys�� mother was given the choice to be deported with her daughter.A family separatedThe toddler and her parents entered the U.S. in May 2024 to seek asylum, according to a court document filed by legal advocacy groups.Maiker �� who received a deportation order last July under the Biden administration �� said in his declaration that he and his partner were put in immigration detention while their daughter was placed in the custody of ORR. Between October and March, the couple had weekly, in-person visits with their daughter, Maiker stated.On March 29, Maiker was sent to a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where DHS has transferred migrants, according to court documents filed by his lawyers.They said he was flown the following day to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot mega-prison, which the U.S. is using to detain hundreds of Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being violent gang members, though it hasn’t provided strong evidence to back that claim. The toddler’s mother was deported soon after Maiker was sent to El Salvador. She was forced to return to her country on a flight without her 2-year-old child, Venezuela said.The girl was kept in ORR custody, with DHS saying, “We will not allow this child to be abused and continue to be exposed to criminal activity that endangers her safety.”Without providing evidence, it alleged in Saturday’s statement that the father was a TDA lieutenant who oversaw various crimes including homicides and trafficking, and that the mother oversaw the recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution.Rising anger in VenezuelaVenezuela accused the U.S. of violating international law and said it would take all legal and diplomatic measures to secure the girl’s return.Its government demanded the “immediate release�� of the child and “that the rule of law and the basic rights of our little girl be restored.”It cited the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states in part that children should not be separated from their parents against their will unless such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. The U.S. has signed the convention but has not ratified it. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insists the U.S. is unjustly holding the child. He announced that a march intended for International Workers�� Day on May 1 would become a rally to demand her release.“I ask for the full support of the Venezuelan people in the effort we are going to make to rescue this kidnapped girl and to bring back safe and sound �� sooner rather than later �� the 252 Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador,�� he said in Caracas Monday, referring to the Venezuelan migrants the U.S. has deported to the Salvadoran prison.