Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew Hits Out at Press Secretary After Release From ICE Detention
The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew has hit out at the White House Press Secretary in her first public appearance since being released from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Bruna Caroline Ferreira, who was formerly engaged to the Leavitt’s brother, Michael, and shares custody of their son, was asked during an interview on CNNon Friday if she had a message for the Press Secretary, who has publicly kept her distance from the incident.
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“I think what I would have to say to Karoline is: just because you went to a Catholic school, doesn‘t make you a good Catholic.”
Addressing Leavitt, who attended Catholic high school and college and is also the godmother of Ferreira’s son, she continued, “You’re a mother. You are a mother now, and you should know. How would you feel if you were in my shoes, you know? How would you feel if somebody did this to you?”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME following Ferreria’s comments.
During the interview, Ferreira gave a full account of her arrest and detention, which shone a spotlight on Leavitt’s family in the midst of the Trump Administration’s efforts to conduct the largest mass deportation in American history.
She said she was rushing to pick up the 11-year-old from school when a swarm of unmarked vehicles surrounded her home in Massachusetts. Shoes still untied, in her hurry, the 33-year-old was arrested by ICE officers without a warrant and taken to Louisiana.
Ferreira, who is in the process of seeking a green card, entered the United States from Brazil when she was 6 years old. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that she was in the country illegally, alleging that she entered the country on a B-2 tourist visa that required her to leave the country by June 6, 1999.
In their joint interview Friday evening, Ferreira’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, contended that the Department of Homeland Security’s assertion that she is a “criminal illegal alien,” based on her alleged immigration status, is a “false character assassination.”
In an earlier report on Ferreira’s detention, a person familiar with the situation, who was granted anonymity, told the New York Times that, despite their familial connection, Leavitt and Ferreira had not spoken in years.
During her Friday appearance, Ferreira recounted her tumultuous interactions with ICE. She claimed she was moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, then from New Hampshire to Vermont, from Vermont to Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia to Texas. Throughout the transfers, she said, ICE agents failed to tell her where she was going or why.
Upon arriving in Texas, she saw a sign that said Mexico, which led her to plead with an ICE agent. “I said, can you please, please, please have a little bit of empathy for me and tell me if you’re taking me across the border?” Ferreira recounted. Her voice quivered as she continued: “He said no, we are taking you to your final destination, your final stop before your deportation, which is South Louisiana. Hardly anybody ever gets out of there.”
There have been reports of sexual harassment and abuse, and “neglect of urgent medical care,’ at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where Ferreira spent three weeks before a judge on Monday allowed her to post bail.
According to data released by the Prison Policy Initiative on Dec. 1, ICE has made approximately 217,518 arrests between Jan. 20 and Oct. 15, 2025. The average number of daily arrests rose from around 300 in early 2024 to more than 800 in January 2025, and to over 1,000 by October of this year.
Pomerleau told CNN, “When she was taken to Vermont, one of the ICE officers didn’t think she spoke English and said, ‘Oh, we got more business coming in,’ and then she winds up in Louisiana, another for-profit hell hole prison paid for by taxpayers,” adding: “This is a woman who owns two businesses, is a single mother, paying her taxes, and winds up in a for-profit prison in Louisiana. It’s unconscionable what they are doing on a daily basis.”
When asked about the Washington Post’s report that the White House tried to imply that Ferreira was an absentee parent who never lived with her son, she expressed her frustration with the matter.
“Why? Why lie? Why lie? Because I have so many friends and family that called me and said why would anyone lie about this when it’s 2025?” she said. “We have a digital footprint of everything. It doesn’t make any sense. I’m just as confused as you are, and I’m hoping this interview gets me some answers.”