REVERE — A woman with known family connections to Karoline Leavitt — the current White House press secretary — was detained Nov. 12 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Revere, Massachusetts, and remains in custody pending removal proceedings.
According to immigration officials, the woman, identified as 33-year-old Bruna Caroline Ferreira, is a Brazilian national who allegedly overstayed a B-2 tourist visa that expired decades ago. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told media ICE arrested Ferreira not only because she entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa that required her to exit the states by June 6, 1999, but she also has a prior arrest for battery on her record.
Her detention came while she was pulling out of her driveway to allegedly pick up her 11-year-old son from school in New Hampshire, her attorney told reporters. Reuters reported that the child has lived full time with Leavitt’s brother, Michael Leavitt, in New Hampshire since birth and has never resided with Ferreira, although they share custody.
Ferreira’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, strongly denied she has any criminal record, calling the government’s claims “false” and stating the family is fighting the detention. “They’re labeling her a criminal because of some charge that I’ve never seen, that I don’t think exists,” Pomerleau told reporters. “I mean, show me it.”
According to her attorney, Ferreira was legally present in the U.S. as a child and later through DACA, and was in the final stages of obtaining permanent residency when she was detained.
“She came here on a Visa at six. You can’t violate the Visa laws until six months after you turn 18 but by then she then had DACA, another lawful process, and right now she’s in the process to get her green card and she was arrested before she could get to the finish line,” Pomerleau told reporters.
A Trump administration official confirmed to WBUR the relationship between Ferreira, Michael Leavitt, and his sister, Karoline Leavitt, the 28-year-old New Hampshire native who is presently the White House press secretary. The official said Karoline hasn’t talked to Michael for years.
Karoline Leavitt was named White House press secretary by Donald J. Trump on November 15, 2024, and officially assumed the role on January 20, 2025, after previously serving as Trump’s 2024 campaign national press secretary and as assistant press secretary earlier in his administration.
Years before his sister became a nationally known political figure, Michael Leavitt won $1 million in a DraftKings contest in 2014, according to the Eagle Tribune. At the time, the report said, Leavitt and Ferreira were engaged and their son was 8 months old.
Ferreira is presently in custody at an ICE facility in Louisiana.