Bruna Caroline Ferreira, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, was arrested by ICE in Massachusetts after they said she overstayed her tourist visa.

Ferreira has an 11-year-old son with Michael Leavitt, Karoline’s brother. He lives in New Hampshire.

Ferreira’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, is calling for her release. Ferreira was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while leaving her home in Revere, Massachusetts earlier this month.

“ICE arrested Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a criminal illegal alien from Brazil. She has a previous arrest for battery,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told WBZ-TV in a statement. 

“She entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the U.S. by June 6, 1999. 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.”

Pomerleau said Ferreira was involved in her son’s life and was leaving her home to pick him up when ICE agents detained her.

Bruna Ferreira immigration status

“She came here at 6 years old. Six, the age of six and [DHS] is calling her a criminal illegal alien,” he said, adding that Ferreira was brought to the U.S. by her parents. He refuted the government’s claim that Ferreira had a criminal charge of battery.

“She’s literally trying to run to the finish line to get her green card and she gets tackled on the way there,” Pomerleau said.

When asked about Ferreira’s arrest, Michael Leavitt told WBZ News his focus is solely on his son.

“My only concern has always been the safety, well being, and privacy of my son,” he said.

Pomerleau said Ferreira and Michael Leavitt were once engaged to be married, but “it didn’t work out, like countless others.”

He said Ferreira was not told why she was detained. Pomerleau told the Associated Press that she has been moved from facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Vermont then Louisiana in what he called an “unconstitutional merry-go-round.”

An online fundraising page created to help with Ferreira’s legal expense claims she “always strived to do the right thing and maintained legal status through DACA.” Pomerleau also said she had legal status through DACA.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was established by the Obama administration in 2012. It allows immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to live and work without fear of deportation, if they meet certain requirements.

“She is in the process of obtaining permanent lawful status and has maintained protection in the past as a DACA dreamer,” another one of Ferreira’s attorneys, Jeffrey Rubin, told WBZ News in a statement Thursday.

“This same government who protected her and afforded her a path to citizenship has chosen to instead abuse its entrusted powers and embark on a cruel and inhumane random mass deportation that now ensnares a relative of someone in the inner circle of the White House.” 

CBS News has not been able to confirm that Ferreira is a DACA recipient who’s up to date on her status renewal.

Revere City councilor reaction

Revere City Councilor Juan Pablo Jaramillo said the case has heightened anxieties for immigrant families in the city.

“There’s, of course, a lot of concern,” he said. “I think folks are mostly concerned about their families. In a democracy, we should be betting on due process, but it doesn’t feel like we’re living in democracy any more, which is why even folks who have proximity to power being targeted, indiscriminately.”

Pomerleau said he expects a hearing in front of a federal judge in Louisiana soon.

CBS News has reached out to the White House press secretary’s office and directly to Karoline Leavitt about Ferriera’s case but has not yet received a comment about her detainment. 

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