US: ICE detains mother of press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are holding the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew in custody, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday.

Bruna Ferreira, 33, is currently being held at an ICE facility in Louisiana after she was taken into custody in Revere, Massachusetts, at some point this month. The exact date of the detention is unclear. WBUR, which first reported the incident, says it took place earlier in November.

Ferreira was initially taken to a women’s prison in Vermont before being moved to South Louisiana. She is currently in removal proceedings because her family is accused of overstaying a tourist visa that expired in 1999, according to Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. 

Ferreira came to the US as a child in 1998 from Brazil and has an 11-year-old son with Michael Leavitt, Karoline’s brother. 

The two were engaged in 2014, but later broke up. It is unclear when they separated, but the pair shares custody of the child.

Ferreira’s sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, told The Boston Globe that Ferreira was about to pick up Michael Jr from school in New Hampshire when she was detained.

Ferreira had previously been a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, which grants temporary protection from deportation and provides work authorisation to hundreds of thousands of people, but was unable to renew her legal status, according to one of her lawyers who spoke to WBUR. She is reportedly seeking permanent residence.

'This is your nephew's mother'

Karoline is the White House press secretary and one of the most visible members of the Trump administration. She became the youngest press secretary in US history when she assumed the position at age 27. She is a forceful advocate of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, which has impacted people who are in the US legally and illegally. 

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McLaughlin told The Boston Globe that Ferreira “has a previous arrest for battery”, but her attorney said she has no criminal history in the adult court system. 

Dos Santos Rodrigues said that Karoline had not contacted her, and it is unclear whether the two have a relationship.

“If she were to help in any way, if she were willing to do anything to help us, she would have reached out by now,” Dos Santos Rodrigues told The Boston Globe.

"She has my phone number. We’ve been family for the last 13 years. I understand the policies and how it looks. But I also think when it comes to family, you put certain things aside. I don’t care who you work for."

“This is your nephew’s mother. ... It’s a little devastating that nothing has been done or said,” she added.

She also said that Michael and his father had told her to tell Ferreira to self-deport after the detention.

“Brazil is not her home,” Dos Santos Rodrigues said. “They’re trying to push it off as a vacation. That’s not a vacation. Bruna barely speaks the language.”

Middle East Eye reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for a comment, but had not received one by the time of publication.