White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt's relative Bruna Ferreira

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 27, Nov 2025, 10:26 am IST | UPDATED: 27, Nov 2025, 10:26 am IST

Bruna Ferreira, a Massachusetts woman who was once engaged to White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, has been detailed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ferreira was arrested while being on way to pick up her 11-year-old son she shares with Michael Leavitt, her former fiance.

Todd Pomerleau, Ferreira's attorney, stated that his client was driving to pick her son from his school in New Hampshire when she was pulled over in Revere, Massachusetts.

"She wasn’t told why she was detained," he said. "She was bounced from Massachusetts, to New Hampshire, to Vermont, to Louisiana on this unconstitutional merry-go-round."

"She was detained for no reason at all. She’s not dangerous. She’s not a flight risk. She’s not a criminal illegal alien. She’s a business owner who pays taxes and has a child who was wondering where mommy was after school two weeks ago," he added.

Ferreira's attorney informed that his client's son used to live with Leavitt, Ferreira's former fiance in New Hampshire. The two have shared custody of the 11-year-old and have long maintained a co-parenting arrangement. He added that at one time the boy lived with both parents, and later split his time between them, spending many nights and weekends with his mother.

Pomerleau said his Ferreira was only two or three years old when she and her family came to the U.S. from Brazil. She later enrolled in the Obama-era policy for immigrants: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme. She was in the process of applying for a green card. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that she entered the country on a tourist visa that required her to leave by 1999. A DHS spokesperson added that she had a prior arrest for battery - an allegation her attorney denies.

According to news agency AP, there was no record found of such charge after an online search of court cases in several Massachusetts locations where she has lived. Meanwhile, court records in New Hampshire show that in 2020 she had two motor-vehicle violations. The first one was for speeding and the second one for driving an unregistered vehicle.

"They’re claiming she has some type of criminal record we’ve seen nowhere. Show us the proof,” Pomerleau said. “She would’ve been deported years ago if that was true. And yet, here she is in the middle of this immigration imbroglio," he added.

Meanwhile, Michael Leavitt is WH Press secretary Karoline Leavitt's middle brother.