Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew Tells CNN That ICE Arrested Her Without a Warrant and Took Her Away in Unmarked Car

During a Friday appearance on CNN, the mother of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, Bruna-Caroline Ferreira, said that the ICE officers who arrested her last month as she was driving to pick her son up from school did not present a warrant and took her away in an unmarked car.

As CNN’s Erin Burnett explained, Ferreira shares custody of her son with Leavitt’s brother, whom she was engaged to until about a decade ago. She’s been in the United States since 1998, when she immigrated from Brazil as a six-year-old. Notably, her son is also the press secretary’s godson.

“The Trump administration calls her a ‘criminal illegal alien’ who overstayed a tourist visa,” said Burnett. “Her attorney maintains that [she] is in the process of getting a green card, which she had begun years ago, and that she is protected from deportation through an Obama-era immigration policy.”

Last month, as she was driving to pick up her son in a Boston suburb, Ferreira described being whisked away by a “swarm of people” in an “unmarked vehicle.”

She told Burnett that the officers didn’t have a warrant: “They asked me, ‘Is your name Bruna?’ And I just asked, ‘Well, how do you know who I am?'”

“At first, they played dumb and acted like it was a traffic stop,” said her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau. “They don’t show any warrant, and then apparently, they manufactured a warrant when she was in Vermont several hours later, which is highly unusual.”

“It seemed like they knew exactly where she was gonna be,” Pomerleau continued, to which Burnett responded, “It sounds like you’re saying you were targeted.” Ferreira said the arrest seemed to be “premeditated” and “very organized.”

“I’m heartbroken for my son,” she went on, adding that she’s sure he has been exposed to constant and harmful media coverage of her case. Importantly, Ferreira was unable to communicate with her family for 26 days. “As a child, he must be terrified.”

She also described being transferred repeatedly while in ICE custody, often without being told where she was being taken. “It’s mind-boggling to know that they know where you’re going, but they won’t tell you,” Ferreira said, recounting being moved across multiple states before landing in Louisiana.

An ICE agent, she said, told her she was being taken to her “final stop before your deportation,” a facility where “hardly anyone ever gets out.”

Ferreira said she was only able to alert her family to her whereabouts after another detainee allowed her to use phone minutes. Although she has since been released, she said she still has not been able to see her son.

“I tried to see [my son]. However, they put me on a GPS monitor unlawfully,” she said. “It has to end somewhere.” Her lawyer added, “It shouldn’t matter who she’s related to or not… People are entitled to due process under the law.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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