MA Mom Of Karoline Leavitt's Nephew Disputes Trump Admin. Argument For Deporting Her: Report

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

The mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew is pushing back on the Trump administration's accusations that she's a criminal and an absent mother.

The Washington Post published an interview with Bruna Ferreira on Sunday, Dec. 7. The 33-year-old spoke via video from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in rural Louisiana.

Ferreira was arrested in Revere, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, after overstaying a childhood visa, which is a civil immigration violation. She told The Post that she has spent most of her life in the US and was stunned to see the Trump administration describe her as dangerous.

Karoline Leavitt, a passionate defender of President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies, has declined to comment publicly on Ferreira's arrest. The White House issued a statement, claiming that the press secretary hasn't spoken to Ferreira in years and that Ferreira had never lived with her son. 

Ferreira disputed the White House's characterization.

"I asked Karoline to be godmother over my only sister," Ferreira said. "I made a mistake there, in trusting. ... Why they're creating this narrative is beyond my wildest imagination."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, MD.

Wikimedia Commons - Gage Skidmore

Ferreira has an 11-year-old son with Karoline's brother, Michael Leavitt. According to court documents, Ferreira and Michael Leavitt shared a New Hampshire home before their relationship ended in 2015.

Michael Leavitt, 35, was engaged to Ferreira before the couple's breakup. In 2014, he won $1 million in a DraftKings fantasy football contest, and the North Andover Eagle Tribune reported that he and Ferreira lived in a shared condo together with their son, who was eight months old at the time.

The two have split custody, and Ferreira said she has stayed involved in her son's daily life through school drop-offs, sports, and weekend visits. She called the White House's statement that she never lived with her son a "disgusting" lie and that she hasn't been able to speak with him, despite reaching out through his father.

While the Leavitt family has suggested that Ferreira should "self-deport," her lawyers said federal law would ban her from returning to the US for at least a decade.

"He needs me right now, tucking him into bed and taking him shopping for Christmas," she told The Post. "He doesn't need me in 20 years. He needs me now."

After their breakup, court records said Ferreira claimed that Michael Leavitt threatened to have her deported, which he denied in text messages to The Post.

"I had no involvement in her being picked up by ICE," he wrote. "I have no control over that and had no involvement in that whatsoever."

Ferreira also expressed pain at hearing her labeled as a criminal. The Department of Homeland Security has pointed to a "previous arrest for battery," but has not produced documentation. 

Todd Pomerleau, Ferreira's lawyer, says she has no criminal record, adding that DHS may be referencing when she was summoned to juvenile court after a fight with another girl outside a Dunkin' Donuts over $8. According to Pomerleau, Ferreira was never arrested, the case was dismissed, and the matter was supposed to be confidential since she was 16.

Ferreira arrived in the US in 1998 to join her parents after her grandmother raised her in Brazil. She faced possible deportation but became eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, which offers protections for young immigrants whose parents brought them to the US.

The deportation case restarted in 2025 as part of Trump's widespread crackdown on immigration, according to her attorneys. While many of her family members are legally in the US, Ferreira hasn't been able to complete the process.

Ferreira's arrest gained national attention because of her ties to the press secretary. She said she "moved mountains" to have her son attend Karoline Leavitt's wedding in January, and approved of him going to Washington, DC, for the White House Easter Egg Roll in April.

TMZ obtained video of ICE agents arriving in four unmarked SUVs, surrounding Ferreira, and putting her into handcuffs in front of her suburban Boston home. Ferreira told The Post that she was driving a borrowed car, adding that Michael Leavitt and his father, Bob, were among the few people who knew her daily schedule.

Ferreira said she was about to get her son after school when ICE took her into custody.

"The thought of my son waiting for me at the school car pickup line and having no one to be there to pick him up is the thing that I keep replaying in my head," she said. "It's just very unfortunate that this is the way that things have transpired."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, MD.

Wikimedia Commons - Gage Skidmore

Ferreira said DHS moved her around the country like "cattle" to Vermont, Philadelphia, and Texas, before she was brought to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. She's being held with hundreds of other women facing deportation.

Detainees started questioning Ferreira about her connection to Karoline Leavitt after Telemundo reported on her case.

"Why are you here?" Ferreira said they asked. "Did she not like you?"

Ferreira's response: "Your guess is as good as mine."

A GoFundMe page to support Ferreira's legal battle has raised more than $37,200 from at least 711 donations as of Monday, Dec. 8.