Dramatic new video shows the moment the “criminal illegal alien” mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew was taken into custody by immigration agents outside her Massachusetts condo last month.
Bruna Carolina Ferreira was attempting to pull out of her complex’s parking lot in Revere, five miles northeast of downtown Boston, when at least five unmarked vehicles boxed in her silver sedan, according to footage of the Nov. 12 incident obtained by TMZ.
Ferreira, clad in a gray hoodie and black leggings, was taken into custody without incident before the convoy drove away.
The native of Brazil entered the US on a B-2 tourism visa that expired June 6, 1999, and shares an 11-year-old son with Leavitt’s older brother, Michael.
The couple were previously engaged and have joint custody of the child. Michael Leavitt has since married a different woman and fathered another son.
After being detained, Ferreira was transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in the remote town of Basile, where she is in removal proceedings.
Ferreira’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told TMZ that the video depicted an “unlawful arrest by officials who appear to be from [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].
“But it is hard to tell because they have masks over their faces and are in unmarked vehicles. No warrant is shown. Common tactics these days,” Pomerlau added.
“This is targeted, unconstitutional depravity. A single mother who owns two businesses and was merely awaiting her green card — like tens of thousands of others — now sits in a for-profit prison in Louisiana stripped from her child right before the holidays.”
The Department of Homeland Security described Ferreira as a “criminal illegal alien,” citing a previous arrest on suspicion of battery — though Massachusetts records describing such a case could not immediately be found.
Michael Leavitt, for his part, claimed to New Hampshire TV station WMUR last week that while Ferreira has maintained a relationship with her son, the boy had lived with him since birth.
Karoline Leavitt, the country’s youngest-ever White House press secretary at 28, doesn’t have a relationship with Ferreira, and the two women had not spoken in many years, a source told the outlet.
Pomerleau claimed to TMZ that Ferreira and Leavitt’s son lived with her until he started kindergarten and she was en route to pick him up from school when she was detained.
“Bruna had no problem whatsoever with the Leavitt family,” the attorney said. “Karoline is her son’s godmother, chosen over her own sister, and Michael Sr. is a very good father … This is appalling. We look forward to her day in court.”
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