When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Bruna Caroline Ferreira on November 12, 2025, in Louisiana, it set off a political and personal firestorm that quickly reached the highest levels of the White House. Ferreira, a Brazilian national, is not just another name in the long list of those detained for overstaying a visa—she is the mother of a child with Michael Leavitt, brother of Karoline Leavitt, the current White House press secretary and a prominent figure in the Trump administration's campaign to crack down on illegal immigration.
Ferreira’s story, first reported by Scripps News, highlights the tangled web of immigration enforcement, family ties, and public narratives that often swirl around such cases. According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records, Ferreira entered the U.S. legally on a B-2 tourist visa in 1998, when she was just six years old. That visa expired on June 6, 1999. Like thousands of others each year, she never left, growing up in America and building a life in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Her arrest at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center was not, her attorney Todd Pomerleau insists, connected to her family’s political ties. "She has no criminal record," Pomerleau told reporters, describing the detention facility as a "nice hellhole." He also pointed out that Ferreira shares custody of her son with Michael Leavitt, a claim that quickly became a flashpoint in the unfolding drama.
The White House swiftly disputed Pomerleau’s account. In an official statement, they asserted, “The child has lived full-time with his father in New Hampshire since birth and has never resided with his mother.” This direct contradiction added fuel to the already heated debate about Ferreira’s role in her son’s life—and about the nature of family, truth, and reputation in the glare of public scrutiny.
Ferreira, speaking from her detention cell in Louisiana, offered a very different version of events. In a video interview with The Washington Post, she recounted her efforts to keep ties with the Leavitt family strong: selecting Karoline Leavitt as her son’s godmother, ensuring her son could attend Leavitt’s wedding in January 2025, and signing off on his trip to the White House Easter egg hunt that spring. “I asked Karoline to be godmother over my only sister. I made a mistake there, in trusting. … Why they’re creating this narrative is beyond my wildest imagination,” Ferreira said, her frustration palpable.
Court records and family photos reviewed by The Washington Post appear to back up at least part of Ferreira’s account. She and Michael Leavitt lived together in New Hampshire before breaking up in 2015, and court documents from that period list them at the same address. The two shared caregiving responsibilities for their now 11-year-old son, and a 2020 court order from Judge Polly Hall mandated shared custody, with Ferreira visiting and taking her son home on most weekends. The arrangement even allowed her to take the boy to Brazil during summer vacations and secure dual citizenship for him.
But the relationship between Ferreira and Michael Leavitt, and by extension the broader Leavitt family, has been rocky. The couple’s breakup led to a bitter custody dispute, with allegations of abuse and neglect flying both ways in court filings. Ferreira accused Michael Leavitt of using her immigration status as leverage, while Leavitt alleged Ferreira threatened to take their son to Brazil. In one 2015 court filing, Ferreira’s lawyer asserted that Leavitt "threatened to contact Immigration in an effort to have her deported," a claim Leavitt denies.
The White House, for its part, has continued to paint Ferreira as an absentee mother. Their statement, echoed by Michael Leavitt in recent text messages to The Washington Post, claims Ferreira never lived with her son. Yet, court filings from 2015 tell a different story, listing both parents at the same address and referencing a shared home. Ferreira herself described her pre-arrest routine as one filled with work, yoga classes, and time spent cheering for her son at sports games—hardly the profile of an absentee parent.
The situation is further complicated by allegations from DHS that Ferreira has a criminal record, specifically a prior arrest for battery. Ferreira’s attorney refutes this, explaining that the incident in question was a 2008 juvenile court summons after a fight with another teenager. The case was dismissed, and Pomerleau insists it was neither a criminal matter nor an arrest. "She was 16 at the time. It was supposed to be confidential," he said.
Ferreira’s immigration status has long been a point of contention. After arriving as a child, she became eligible in 2012 for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era program that provided temporary protection from deportation for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Despite this, the Trump administration restarted her deportation case in 2025 as part of a broader campaign to remove millions of undocumented immigrants.
Ferreira’s life before her arrest was, by her own account, one of striving for stability. She managed two businesses—a cleaning service and a Brazilian bikini shop—while raising her son and dreaming of attending Harvard Law School. Her relationship with Michael Leavitt was tumultuous, but she says she always tried to maintain a connection with her child and the Leavitt family. "He needs me right now, tucking him into bed and taking him shopping for Christmas. He doesn’t need me in 20 years. He needs me now," she said through tears in her interview with The Washington Post.
Michael Leavitt, meanwhile, maintains that he has been the more consistent parent and denies any involvement in Ferreira’s arrest. "I had no involvement in her being picked up by ICE. I have no control over that and had no involvement in that whatsoever," he wrote in a text message to The Washington Post. He also said, “I want my son to have a relationship with his mother as I always have shown that.”
The circumstances of Ferreira’s arrest remain murky. Video obtained by TMZ shows her being surrounded and detained by ICE officers as she left her home in Revere, Massachusetts. Ferreira says only a handful of people, including Michael and Bob Leavitt, knew her schedule and whereabouts, though she stops short of accusing them of involvement. Her lawyer, Pomerleau, argues that the arrest was targeted and that ICE’s actions exemplify broader problems in immigration enforcement, particularly when it comes to transparency and communication with families.
As Ferreira awaits her fate in the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, her legal team continues to fight the deportation order. The outcome now rests with immigration court judges, who must weigh years of residency, family connections, and a mountain of conflicting narratives. At its heart, Ferreira’s case is a vivid example of how immigration law, family dynamics, and public life can collide, leaving real people caught in the crossfire—and raising questions about justice, compassion, and the meaning of home.
