Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew questions press secretary’s faith and slams White House as ‘liars’ in furious first interview since ICE arrest

The mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew questioned whether the White House press secretary was a ‘good Catholic’ in a furious first interview after ICE detained her for almost a month.

Bruna-Caroline Ferreira, 33, grew emotional as she sat down with CNN to break her silence just days after being released from a Louisiana detention facility.

The Brazilian native, who moved to the US in 1998 when she was six, was engaged to Leavitt’s brother Michael over a decade ago and the pair share custody of their 11-year-old child, also named Michael.

Ferreira said she has not spoken to Leavitt since her arrest, and when asked what she would say to the White House press secretary now, she did not hold back.

‘I’d say, just because you went to a Catholic school doesn’t make you a good Catholic,’ she said.

In the aftermath of her arrest, the White House claimed that Ferreira overstayed a tourist visa and had never lived with her son, portraying her as an absentee parent – allegations that she hit back at.

‘Why lie?’ she said. ‘I have so many friends and family that have called me and said, “Why would anyone lie about this when it’s 2025—we have a digital footprint of everything.”‘

Branding her treatment under the Trump administration as ‘cruel’, Ferreira said she has been left ‘heartbroken’ by her arrest.

‘I don’t even have a parking ticket, and I’m so proud of it,’ she said, adding that she was stunned to see the White House call her a ‘criminal illegal alien.’

‘And now my child is watching them broadcast this 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a child he must be terrified. I don’t know what’s going on in his little mind, and I just want him to know that none of those things are true.’

Bruna-Caroline Ferreira, 33, the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, slammed the White House press secretary in a fiery interview after she was detained by ICE for almost a month

Ferreira said she has not spoken to President Trump’s press secretary since her arrest, and when asked if she had anything to say to Leavitt, she said: ‘You are a mother… How would you feel if you were in my shoes? How would you feel if somebody did this to you?’

Directing her remarks to Leavitt, Ferreira said she was stunned at the harsh treatment she received, which included being transported to several different facilities for almost a month without being told where she was going.

‘You are a mother, and you should know. How would you feel if you were in my shoes? How would you feel if somebody did this to you?’ Ferreira said.

Leavitt has notably stayed out of the controversy surrounding Ferreira’s arrest. She is also the godmother to Ferreira’s son.

‘I can’t wrap my mind around it,’ Ferreira said of her ordeal in ICE custody. ‘I’m not the first, and I’m not going to be the last. There are families and children being separated daily, where does it end?’

The Brazilian native, who moved to the US in 1998 when she was six, was engaged to Leavitt’s brother Michael over a decade ago and the pair share custody of their 11-year-old child

Leavitt is also godmother to her nephew, and Ferreira said she was stunned by her treatment under the Trump administration

Ferreira said she was detained while on her way to pick her son up from school, and was boxed in by two unmarked vans before ICE agents swooped in and arrested her.

Said she was allowed just one emergency phone call after her arrest, and then went 26 days without being allowed to use her phone while in detention.

Ferreira said after she was arrested in Massachusetts, she was moved across the nation, and was sent to New Hampshire, then to Vermont, then to Philadelphia, then to Texas, and then finally to Louisiana.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ferreira’s remarks.

In the sit-down with CNN, Ferreira was joined by her attorney Todd Pomerleau, who said that he believes Ferreira’s arrest was ‘premediated’ due to her connection to the White House, implying that ICE agents knew where she would be because they had been following her.

He noted that Ferreira was pulled over in a car that was not registered to her, yet agents immediately asked ‘if she was Bruna’ when she was detained.

Ferreira said she is ‘heartbroken’ by her arrest, and said she was particularly upset by the impact her detainment had on her son, saying he ‘must be terrified. I don’t know what’s going on in his little mind, and I just want him to know that none of those things are true’

Leavitt has notably stayed out of the controversy surrounding the arrest of her nephew’s mother

Pomerleau added that the arrest came the day after Ferreira filed her most recent green card application, alleging that this prompted the Trump administration to ‘accelerate’ her arrest.

He said Ferreira’s phone was broken during the arrest despite it not being a ‘violent’ apprehension.

‘The only arrest in her life was this unconstitutional bag job,’ he said.

‘Who you’re related to shouldn’t matter – she’s in line for her green card like thousands of other people.

‘This is a woman who has two businesses, she’s a single mother who is paying her taxes, who ends up in a for-profit prison in Louisiana. It’s just unconscionable what they’re doing on a daily basis.’