{"id":52868,"date":"2025-11-26T13:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52868\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T13:02:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:02:06","slug":"white-house-karoline-leavitt-criminal-illegal-alien-relative-bruna-caroline-ferreira-detained-by-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52868\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Karoline Leavitt criminal illegal alien relative Bruna Caroline Ferreira detained by ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

A relative of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has been detained by federal immigration officials in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Bruna Caroline Ferreira, \u201ca criminal illegal alien from Brazil,\u201d 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ferreira shares an 11-year-old son with Leavitt\u2019s older brother, Michael.<\/p>\n

Bruna Ferreira with her son before she was arrested by ICE in November 2025. Bruna Ferreira \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of my son,\u201d Michael Leavitt told New Hampshire station WMUR.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leavitt, the country\u2019s youngest White House press secretary at 28, told the outlet she had no comment on Ferreira\u2019s arrest, but a source said the women have not spoken in many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe child has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born. He has never resided with his mother,\u201d the source claimed.<\/a><\/p>\n

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, but no charges against Ferreira could be located in Massachusetts\u2019 online court records.<\/p>\n

She is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center\u00a0as she awaits removal proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by June 6, 1999,\u201d the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News. \u201cShe is currently at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is in removal proceedings. Under President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Nov. 20, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Michael Leavitt, his wife and kids greet President Trump in the Oval Office during a trip to the White House. Mike Leavitt\/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Ferreira is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center\u00a0as she awaits removal proceedings. Bruna Ferreira \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Ferreira\u2019s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, contested her arrest, saying she \u201cmaintained her legal status\u201d under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s in the process of actually getting her green card and she was abruptly arrested and taken from her young child right before Thanksgiving,\u201d Pomerleau said, according to WCVB.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBruna has no criminal record whatsoever,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where that is coming from. Show us the proof. There\u2019s no charges out there. She\u2019s not a criminal illegal alien.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pomerleau said Ferreira\u2019s son hasn\u2019t talked to his mother since her arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019s life. She\u2019s a great mom, and from what I heard, I think he\u2019s been a pretty good dad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mother is locked up in Louisiana, where she should have never been in the first place,\u201d Pomerleau said of Michael Leavitt and Ferreira\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

Ferreira\u2019s 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. Bruna Ferreira \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Karoline Leavitt with her brother Michael in 2016. Mike Leavitt \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Karoline Leavitt with her son Niko in the White House press briefing room on Nov. 25, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Since taking office, Trump and his team have organized a \u201cmass deportation campaign,\u201d which includes a push for people illegally in the country to \u201cself-deport\u201d as well as major law enforcement operations involving ICE, the Border Patrol and the National Guard in cities and towns across the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation,\u201d the DHS said.<\/p>\n

A relative of Ferreira set up a GoFundMe for her saying she was brought to the US as a child in 1998 and followed all protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, she has done everything in her power to build a stable, honest life here. She has maintained her legal status through DACA, followed every requirement, and has always strived to do the right thing,\u201d the fundraiser said.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Michael Leavitt won $1 million from a Draft Kings daily fantasy football contest. At the time, he was engaged to Ferreira and their son was 8 months old. The young family posed for pictures on a giant novelty check provided by the gambling site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need the lights fixed on the back of my car,\u201d Ferreira told the North Andover, Mass., Eagle-Tribune at the time.<\/a> \u201cAnd we need a lamp for my son\u2019s room. Other than that we don\u2019t really need much. We have our health. We have a nice condo. We really are blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A relative of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has been detained by federal immigration officials in Massachusetts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2300,2035,3410,2301,9228,9,11,10,87,58,5561],"class_list":["post-52868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-ice","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-immigration","tag-karoline-leavitt","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-us-news","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}