Woman with family ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt arrested by ICE

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters on the West Wing driveway on Monday. (Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

A woman with family relations to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is in ICE custody after being arrested earlier this month near Boston.

Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a Brazilian native and the mother of Leavitt’s nephew, was arrested near Boston on November 12, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told CNN.

Leavitt’s nephew has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father, Leavitt’s brother Michael, since he was born, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Ferreira and the White House press secretary have not spoken in many years, the source said.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told CNN Ferreira was in the U.S. illegally after overstaying a tourist visa that required her to leave the country in June 1999. Ferreira is “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil” with “a previous arrest for battery” and is currently in removal proceedings, the spokesperson said.

Pomerleau said the DHS statement is inaccurate. “We dispute that she has any criminal record. She is not a ‘criminal illegal alien,’” he told CNN Wednesday.

Ferreira’s attorney said she was a former recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which grants temporary protection from deportation for those brought to the U.S. as children.

She was unable to renew her status a few years ago during U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the program during his first administration, but is currently in the middle of a “lawful immigration process” for U.S. citizenship, Pomerleau said.

Ferreira was arrested while driving to pick up her son from New Hampshire, Pomerleau told CNN. Ferreira and Michael Leavitt were previously engaged and have joint custody over their 11-year-old son, Pomerleau said.

Ferreira is being detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, said Pomerleau. The facility is about 80 miles from Baton Rouge and more than 1,500 miles from where Ferreira was arrested.

Michael Leavitt told CNN affiliate WMUR Ferreira has maintained a relationship with their son, but the boy has not spoken to her since her detention. He described the situation as difficult and said he just wants the best for his son.

A GoFundMe page, verified by Ferreira’s lawyer, has been created by her sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, for legal fees and expenses. As of Wednesday morning, more than US$15,000 has been raised.

“Bruna was brought to the United States by our parents in December of 1998, when she was just a child … Since then, she has done everything in her power to build a stable, honest life here,” Ferreira’s sister wrote in the GoFundMe campaign. She said Ferreira has “maintained her legal status through DACA.”

Trump tried to end DACA during his first term, but the Supreme Court ruled his administration had not taken the proper steps to do so. Some DACA recipients have been among those arrested in the administration’s current sweeping immigration enforcement.

In a recent statement to the Associated Press, U.S. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said those with status under the Obama-era program “are not automatically protected from deportations,” adding, “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country.”