ICE-Detained Mom Of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew Speaks Out | EUROtoday

The mom of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew is talking out for the primary time since she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, final month.

A Brazil native, Bruna Caroline Ferreira was arrested Nov. 12 at her dwelling simply exterior Boston. A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security stated the 33-year-old was within the U.S. illegally after overstaying a vacationer visa that expired in 1999, when she was nonetheless a toddler. In a press release to CNN, the spokesperson referred to as Ferreira “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil” with “a previous arrest for battery.”

On Monday, an immigration decide ordered Ferreira’s launch from a Louisiana detention middle on a $1,500 bond as she fights her potential deportation. Her arrest has been the topic of nationwide scrutiny, on condition that she was as soon as engaged to Leavitt’s brother, Michael Leavitt. The former couple share an 11-year-old son, Michael Leavitt Jr.

Prior to her launch, Ferreira spoke at size with The Washington Post in an interview printed Sunday. In it, she rejected the White House’s portrayal of her as an absentee mom, in addition to claims that she hadn’t spoken with Karoline Leavitt for years.

“I asked Karoline to be godmother over my only sister,” she stated. “I made a mistake there, in trusting. … Why they’re creating this narrative is beyond my wildest imagination.”

Though she and Michael Leavitt ended their relationship in 2015, Ferreira stated the pair have till now shared caregiving obligations for his or her son. The Post’s report, nevertheless, signifies the 2 had a contentious custody battle by which they every accused the opposite of abuse and neglect.

Ferreira additionally informed The Post Michael Leavitt had “used intimidation” based mostly on her “immigration status” after the break up, a declare he denied.

“I had no involvement in her being picked up by ICE. I have no control over that and had no involvement in that whatsoever,” he wrote in a textual content message to The Post, earlier than happening to accuse the outlet of “trying to use this whole situation to push a narrative to smear me.”

Ferreira’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, stated his consumer doesn’t have a legal file. As for the DHS’s declare of a “previous arrest for battery,” Pomerleau stated it could possibly be a reference to a 2009 incident by which Ferreira, who was then 16, was concerned in a bodily altercation with one other teen lady exterior a Dunkin’ Donuts. Ferreira was by no means arrested, he stated, and the case was finally dismissed.

Though Karoline Leavitt has not commented publicly on Ferreira’s arrest, she has been a strident mouthpiece for President Donald Trump all through his immigration crackdown. In July, she horrified critics together with her enthusiastic description of the Trump administration’s immigration detention middle in Florida’s Everglades, informally referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.”