Individual With Family Ties To White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Detained By ICE

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Federal immigration officials in Massachusetts detained the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said Bruna Caroline Ferreira is a “criminal illegal alien from Brazil” who overstayed her tourist visa that expired in 1999.

Ferreira shares an 11-year-old son with Leavitt’s older brother, Michael.

NBC News shared:

The woman has an arrest on suspicion of battery, the spokesperson said. It’s not clear how the case was resolved.

Ferreira, who the source familiar with the situation said has never lived with Leavitt’s nephew, is at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center amid proceedings to have her removed, the DHS spokesperson said.

Under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the spokesperson said, “all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.”

The source said Leavitt’s nephew has lived full time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born, has never resided with his mother and has not spoken with her in many years.

“The only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of my son,” Michael Leavitt said, according to the New York Post.

“She entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by June 6, 1999,” the DHS stated, the outlet noted.

Ferreira came to the United States with her family as a child.

Karoline Leavitt reportedly had no comment on Ferreira’s arrest.

More from the New York Post:

Ferreira’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, contested her arrest, saying she “maintained her legal status” under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“She’s in the process of actually getting her green card and she was abruptly arrested and taken from her young child right before Thanksgiving,” Pomerleau said, according to WCVB.

“Bruna has no criminal record whatsoever,” he said. “I don’t know where that is coming from. Show us the proof. There’s no charges out there. She’s not a criminal illegal alien.”

Pomerleau said Ferreira’s son hasn’t talked to his mother since her arrest.

“I’m just trying to fight to get her out of jail. She should not be sitting in a jail hours away from her family and from her child’s life. She’s a great mom, and from what I heard, I think he’s been a pretty good dad,” he said.

“His mother is locked up in Louisiana, where she should have never been in the first place,” Pomerleau said of Michael Leavitt and Ferreira’s son.



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