Venezuelan officials denounce the United States for the forced separation and alleged kidnapping of 18 Venezuelan migrant children. The Bolivarian government calls for international action and the immediate return of the minors, framing the situation as a grave violation of human rights and international law.

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Venezuela demands the immediate return of 18 Venezuelan children in U.S. custody who were separated from their families.

The case, denounced as a kidnapping by top officials, has reignited international debate over the United States’ migration policies and their impact on vulnerable Latin American families.

Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, also head of the Unified Command of the Bolivarian Revolution, accused U.S. authorities at a press conference of separating Venezuelan children from their parents and placing them in foster care or institutional custody.

Rodriguez insisted, “We demand the U.S. government return our children. We will not rest until they are back in the arms of their mothers. This is an act of barbarism and a crime against humanity”.

Rodriguez noted that some children have been moved between unfamiliar foster homes while their parents are detained or deported.

He described the situation as a “flagrant violation of international law and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child,” and called on the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies to intervene, despite what he characterized as their current inaction.

Migrants are not alone

The Venezuelan government’s denunciations are not isolated. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has also repeatedly condemned what he describes as a “dehumanized strategy” by U.S. authorities to systematically separate migrant families.

Cabello cited the widely publicized case of Maikelys Espinoza, a two-year-old Venezuelan girl taken from her mother during a deportation flight from Texas.

#ENVIVO | ''Tenemos 18 niños migrantes secuestrados por #EEUU🇺🇸 y el consejo de #DDHH de la #ONU no se pronuncia al respecto'' expresó Rodríguez pic.twitter.com/wULdPa5n3k

— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) June 30, 2025

The text reads: #LIVE | “There is nothing more painful than being separated from a son or daughter. We demand that our children be returned to us. What crime could any of those children have committed? There is no justification,” commented Jorge Rodríguez.

#LIVE | “We have 18 migrant children kidnapped by #USA🇺🇸 and the #UN #HumanRights Council has not spoken out about it,” Rodríguez expressed.

“They are kidnapping children under the guise of immigration control; this is criminal,” Cabello declared, warning of connections to broader human trafficking networks and historical abuses by far-right actors.

Cabello’s statements underscore a pattern: “Imperialism has no choice but to resort to extremes, including kidnapping Venezuelans and trying to divide families by stealing the children of migrants,” he said at a recent public event in Caracas.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, echoing President Nicolás Maduro’s position, has labeled these separations as crimes against humanity and violations of international law.

The government has launched global campaigns, such as #freemaikelyespinoza, to raise awareness and demand accountability from the United States and international bodies.

“Taking a child from her mother simply because she is a migrant is a crime under any international law,” President Maduro stated, urging multilateral action and solidarity.

Rodríguez went further, comparing the forced separation of children from their parents to historical atrocities, declaring, “There is no difference between a girl taken from her mother in Nazi concentration camps and the kidnapping of these Venezuelan children.”

He also criticized U.S. politicians, specifically naming Marco Rubio, and questioned the silence of United Nations officials like Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The stories behind the statistics are harrowing. Many parents, including women and infants as young as five months, have reportedly been detained in harsh conditions in El Salvador before being transferred to the United States under false promises of repatriation.

Some remain held in detention centers, while their children are left in the U.S. foster system, often without clear information about their whereabouts or well-being.

Rodríguez addressed U.S. Ambassador John McNamara directly, asking, “How would you feel if your own children were taken from you?” He called on U.S. authorities to “show humanity and return the children,” emphasizing that migration is not a crime and that the rights of migrants must be respected.

The Bolivarian government has pledged to exhaust all diplomatic, legal, and political avenues to secure the return of the separated children.

“We will not rest. We demand that our children be returned to us… And we will achieve it,” Rodríguez concluded, urging the international community to stand with Venezuela in defense of migrant and child rights.

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