During her first interview since being released from weeks in ICE custody, the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew has a message for the White House press secretary.
Bruna Caroline Ferreira spoke about her “mind-boggling” experience during a sit-down with CNN’s Erin Burnett, which aired Friday. Federal immigration agents detained Ferreira on November 12 while she was picking up her son from school.
“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,” Ferreira said. “You know, you’re a mother. You are a mother now, and you should know. How would you feel if you were in those, in my shoes? You know, how would you feel if somebody did this to you?”
Ferreira, the ex-fiancée and co-parent of the press secretary’s brother Michael Leavitt, told CNN she arrived in the U.S. from Brazil in 1998, when she was 6 years old. Ferreira said she was in the process of obtaining a green card at the time of her arrest.
Ferreira also shot down the White House’s claim that she was an absentee mother who had never lived with her son.
“Why would anyone lie about this when it’s 2025? We have a digital footprint of everything,” Ferreira said. “…I’m just as lost as you are, and I’m hoping that this interview gets me some answers.”
Ferreira said she was hurt by the White House accusing her of being a criminal. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told People magazine Ferreira had “a previous arrest for battery” – a claim she and her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, have denied.
“I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for my son,” Ferreira said, adding that she had long been “a law-abiding citizen.”
Ferreira explained that she was still trying to make sense of the situation.
“I’m trying to understand and have faith that there’s some logical explanation behind any of this, but there isn’t,” she said. “I’m not the first. I’m surely not going to be the last. There’s thousands of women and families and children being separated daily. Where does it end? When does it stop?”
