ICE arrests mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew

Seems no one is immune from those immigration raids, not even the family of the White House press secretary. A woman with a family connection to press secretary Caroline Leavitt is now being held by ICE. Her attorney confirms she is a native of Brazil. She is the mother of Leavitt's nephew. Scripps News investigative correspondent Patrick Terpstra is live in our DC newsroom. Patrick, does she face deportation?

She absolutely does, Del. She is locked up right now in Louisiana awaiting deportation? She absolutely does, Del. She is locked up right now in Louisiana awaiting deportation hearings. Her name is Bruna Caroline Ferreira, and she is the mother of an 11-year-old boy who is also the nephew of White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt. She shares custody of that 11-year-old with Leavitt's brother, Michael. The two of them are still in close contact but do not live together.

All of this began with that traffic stop earlier this month in November in the suburbs of Boston, where she was ultimately detained by ICE and sent down to Louisiana. According to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, she is a quote, criminal illegal alien, something that the attorney disputes. The attorney representing Ferreira saying that she came to the United States as a child in the mid-90s and overstayed a 1999 visa at the time. Again, she was a child, just about five years old when this happened in 1999.

And according to Homeland Security, there is a charge she faced at some point for battery, but that is something that the attorney tells us simply is not true. The attorney is saying that she does not have any criminal records.

So she continues to fight this, all the while the attorney is saying they do not believe that there is any sort of connection here with Caroline Levin. They do not believe that Ferreira was targeted. Take a listen.

Our concern right now is getting a single mother out of a nice hellhole in Louisiana. We have no idea why she was detained. She wasn't given any explanation at all. And her relationship with the press secretary for the White House appears to be happenstance.

And that attorney saying that she was arrested on her way to actually go to school to pick up her son, that 11 year old boy, who again is the nephew of Caroline Leavitt. We reached out to the White House in hopes of getting comment from Leavitt. We got a statement back from someone who asked to be referred to as a source close to the situation who said that Leavitt and Ferreira, the detained woman, have not spoken in years.

Del.

Scripps News investigative correspondent Patrick Terps to our live for us in our DC newsroom. newsroom. Patrick, as always, thank you.