Entertainment
New Video Shows ICE Arresting Woman With Family Tie to Karoline Leavitt
WH Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt
New Video Shows ICE Arresting Nephew’s Mother
Published
TMZ.com
Never-before-seen footage shows the moment ICE agents arrested a woman with family ties to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
TMZ obtained video showing Bruna Caroline Ferreira, the mother of Karoline’s nephew, being swarmed by federal immigration agents last month in Massachusetts.
Surveillance footage shows Ferreira, who is from Brazil, in a sedan leaving her condo in Revere, Mass around 12:30 PM on November 12 … when all of a sudden her path is blocked by five unmarked vehicles.
A bunch of agents hop out of the cars and the next thing you know, Ferreira has her hands behind her back and is being thrown in handcuffs.
Ferreira is placed in the back of an SUV and the ICE agents get back in their cars and drive off … with someone taking her car too.
A DHS spokesperson previously told us Ferreira entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa that required her to leave the U.S. by June 6, 1999.
The spokesperson described her as “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil” and claimed she had a prior arrest for battery.
Ferreira is currently being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is in removal proceedings.
Karoline’s nephew reportedly lives full-time in New Hampshire with her brother, Michael. Karoline has apparently not spoken to Ferreira in years.
Bruna’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, tells TMZ … “I have just been shown a video of my client, Bruna Ferreira, documenting her unlawful arrest by officials who appear to be from ICE. 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.”
Pomerleau continues … “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.”
Pomerleau writes … “Bruna had no problem whatsoever with the Leavitt family. Karoline is her son’s godmother, chosen over her own sister, and Michael Sr. is a very good father. Bruna was en route to pick up her son Michael Jr. after school like she did several days a week. He lived with her till kindergarten, but now awaits for his mother’s warm embrace.”
Pomerleau concludes … “This is appalling. We look forward to her day in court.”