The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew has accused the White House press secretary of trying to downplay their relationship after she was detained by ICE —despite her attending a soccer game along with Karoline’s family just weeks ago.
Bruna Ferreira, who was taken into immigration custody earlier this month, was in regular contact with Leavitt and her relatives while she co-parented her 11-year-old son, who is the press secretary’s nephew and godson, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told the Daily Beast.
“She’s seen and talked to Karoline Leavitt definitely within the past year, if not the past months,” Pomerleau said Sunday.
The case has thrust Leavitt’s New Hampshire family into the spotlight, leaving the White House scrambling to distance the 28-year-old press secretary and her relatives from Ferreira, who is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. White House insiders have repeatedly claimed Leavitt hasn’t spoken to her nephew’s mother in “years.”
The Department of Homeland Security alleges the Brazilian national overstayed a tourist visa.
Todd Pomerleau said that the Leavitts were aware Ferreira was in the process of obtaining a green card, which would allow her to reside permanently in the United States.
Just a few weeks before her arrest, Ferreira was cheering for her son at a recreational football game alongside the Leavitts, her lawyer said.
“A few weeks before her arrest, she’s still a ‘criminal illegal alien’ hanging out with the Leavitt family that’s preaching against criminal legal aliens,” Pomerleau said.
“She was a ‘criminal legal alien’ back when she was dating Michael Leavitt, and he had no issue with it.”
He said Ferreira was stunned by claims that she wasn’t present in her son’s—and the Leavitts’—lives.
“She’s actually quite proud of [Karoline] for achieving her dreams, and she’s just sitting there baffled, wondering what’s going on,” Pomerleau said.
The attorney added that Ferreira “literally picked Karoline to be the godmother” of the child ”over her own sister.”
Earlier this week, a source close to the White House told the Daily Beast, “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 birth. He has never resided with his mother.”
Ferreira has refuted claims that she has never lived with her son, her attorney said. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for clarification.
Pomerleau said his client has been in the United States since she first entered at six years old and was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an immigration program established in 2012 that provides children brought to the U.S. with protection from deportation and work permits.
The attorney also rebuked DHS claims that Ferreira overstayed a tourist visa that lapsed in 1999 and that she has a prior battery arrest. He emphasized that individuals with “serious” criminal records are ineligible for DACA.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Leavitt’s brother, Michael. In an interview with WMUR, an ABC affiliate in Leavitt’s native New Hampshire, he said simply that he was “most concerned about the well-being and safety of his son,” whom he acknowledged Ferreira has maintained a close relationship with.
Ferreira’s case gained notoriety after her family criticized Leavitt, one of the most influential members of the Trump administration, for “radio silence” on the young mother’s detention more than 1,500 miles away from New England. A GoFundMe page set up by Ferreira’s family has raised $35,875 as of Sunday morning.
“Anyone who knows Bruna knows the kind of person she is. She is hardworking, kind, and always the first to offer help when someone needs it,” a statement from Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, who said she is Ferreira’s sister.
“Bruna’s absence has been especially painful for her 11-year-old son, Michael Leavitt Junior, who needs his mother and hopes every single day that she’ll be home in time for the holidays.”
Leavitt declined to comment on the situation to her local news channel.
