A family crisis has erupted around White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt after a woman connected to her family was taken into ICE custody earlier this month near Boston. Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a Brazilian native and the mother of Leavitt’s nephew, was arrested on November 12, according to her attorney, Todd Pomerleau.
Ferreira’s relationship to the White House spokesperson is distant and strained. A source familiar with the family said the two women have not spoken in years. Leavitt’s nephew, the child at the center of the situation, has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father, Michael Leavitt—Karoline’s brother—since birth.
Homeland Security officials say Ferreira overstayed a tourist visa that required her to leave the United States in June 1999. A DHS spokesperson also described her as a “criminal illegal alien” with a prior arrest. Ferreira’s attorney flatly rejected that characterization, arguing she has no criminal record and is being misrepresented.
Pomerleau said Ferreira was previously protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, having been brought to the United States as a child in 1998. But during Donald Trump’s first term, as the administration fought to dismantle DACA, she was unable to renew her status. According to her lawyer, Ferreira has since been pursuing a lawful path toward U.S. citizenship.
She was arrested while driving to pick up her son in New Hampshire, Pomerleau said. Ferreira and Michael Leavitt were once engaged and share custody of their 11-year-old child. Since her detention, their son has not spoken to her. Michael described the situation as painful but said he is focused on what is best for the boy.
Ferreira is now being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile—more than 1,500 miles from where she was arrested. Her family has launched a verified GoFundMe campaign to cover legal and travel expenses, raising over $15,000 as of Wednesday.
Her sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, wrote in the fundraiser that Ferreira was brought to the U.S. as a child and has spent her life trying to build stability. She insisted Ferreira maintained “legal status through DACA” until policies made renewal impossible.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain a woman at the intersection of 28th Street an Pierce Parkway in Springfield Nov.19, 2025.
The case arrives amid a renewed wave of immigration enforcement from the Trump administration, which has included arrests of some DACA recipients despite the Supreme Court ruling that blocked the program’s termination in Trump’s first term.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a recent statement that DACA recipients “are not automatically protected from deportations,” noting that the program “does not confer any form of legal status.”
Karoline Leavitt has not commented publicly on the situation, but the arrest has placed her family in an unwelcome spotlight just as the administration pushes its aggressive immigration agenda.
