A relative of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was detained by federal immigration officials in Massachusetts, according to a report.
Bruna Caroline Ferreira, “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil,” was taken into custody in Revere, Mass., after allegedly overstaying her tourist visa that expired in June 1999, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told NBC News.
Ferreira shares an 11-year-old son with Leavitt’s brother, Michael.
The boy has lived in New Hampshire with his father his whole life, never living with his mother, the outlet reported.
“The only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of my son,” Michael Leavitt told
Leavitt, the country’s youngest White House press secretary at 28, hasn’t seen Ferreira in several years.
“This individual is the mother of Karoline’s nephew and they have not spoken in many years. The child has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born. He has never resided with his mother,” a source told WMUR.
Ferreira, who came to the United States with her family as a child, was once arrested on suspicion of battery. The result of the case was not immediately clear.
She is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center as she awaits removal proceedings.
“She entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by June 6, 1999,” the Department of Homeland Security told the outlet. “She is currently at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is in removal proceedings. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.”
Ferreira’s lawyer contested her arrest, saying she came to the US under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and has been working on getting legal status.
“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,” attorney Todd 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.
The attorney sided with Michael Leavitt, saying the boy should be left out of his mom’s legal troubles.
“His mother is locked up in Louisiana, where she should have never been in the first place,” Pomerleau said.
Since taking office, Trump and his team have organized a “mass deportation campaign,” which includes a push for people illegally in the country to “self-deport” as well as major law enforcement operations involving ICE, Border Patrol and the National Guard in cities and towns across the US.
“All individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation,” the DHS said.
