One month after her ICE arrest, the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew speaks out for the first time.
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Bruna Caroline Ferreira, who once had a relationship with Karoline’s older brother Michael, discussed the situation with CNN’s Erin Burnett late last week. Ferreira stated she was arrested and detained by ICE while picking up her and Michael’s 11-year-old son from school in Revere, Massachusetts, on Nov. 12.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously claimed that Ferreira is a “criminal illegal from Brazil.” She is being accused of staying on an expired tourist visa since 1999 and was previously arrested for battery.
However, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, also spoke to CNN, stating that the Department of Homeland spokesperson’s statement was inaccurate. “We dispute that she has any criminal record,” Pomerleau said. “She’s not a ‘criminal illegal alien.”
Pomerleau noted that his client is a former recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This program grants temporary protection from deportation to those brought to the US as children.
“I’m heartbroken,” Ferreira explained to Burnett. “I’m heartbroken for my son. You know, I’m heartbroken for my mother, who has worked for a quarter of a century cleaning houses, earned an honest living, has paid her taxes. I’ve been a law-abiding citizen. I don’t even have a parking ticket. And I’m so proud of it.”
The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew admitted she was worried about her son amid the situation.
“Now my child is sitting somewhere watching them broadcast this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a child, he must be terrified,” she said. “‘Is it true? Did my mom do something? Do I not know about it?’ Gossip in school.”
Bruna Caroline Ferreira Calls out Karoline Leavitt
Elsewhere in the interview, Ferreira calls out Karolina Leavitt for allowing the situation to happen.
“I think what I would have to say to Karoline is: Just because you went to a Catholic school doesn’t make you a good Catholic,” she stated. “You are a mother now. How would you feel if you were in those, in my shoes? How would ou feel f somebody did this to you?”
The White House previously revealed that Karoline Leavitt hadn’t spoken to her nephew’s mother years before the ICE arrest.