Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew’s Mother Speaks Out Following ICE Arrest

Bruna Caroline Ferreira, the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew and godson, was detained by ICE and held for deportation in November. Now, she’s speaking out about the experience, and also sharing a pointed message for the White House press secretary.

The 33-year-old — who shares her son with Karoline’s older brother, Michael Leavitt — was arrested and detained while picking up her 11-year-old son from school in Revere, Mass., on Nov. 12.

Recalling the instance while breaking her silence to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday, Dec. 12, Ferreira, who appeared alongside her attorney Todd Pomerleau, also shared some choice words for the 28-year-old White House press secretary, who is her child’s godmother. (Ferreira chose Karoline for the role “over my sister,” she told CNN.)

“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 told Burnett.

“You are a mother now,” Ferreira continued, referencing Karoline’s role as a mom to her 1-year-old son, Niko, whom she shares with husband Nicholas Riccio. “How would you feel if you were in those, in my shoes? … How would you feel if somebody did this to you?”

The White House press secretary has not publicly commented on the arrest, and a source previously told PEOPLE that she hasn’t spoken with Ferreira, brother Michael’s ex-fiancée and co-parent, “in many years.”

Ferreira arrived in the United States from Brazil in 1998, when she was 6 years old, she recalled to CNN. At the time of her arrest, she was in the process of obtaining a green card, and she had previously been protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.

Ferreira was released from the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center on an immigration judge’s orders days before breaking her silence on CNN, the outlet reported.

The release came after weeks of what Ferreira told CNN was a “mind-boggling” experience of being “shuffled around the entire country” as federal agents refused to tell her where she was going.

After the news of Ferreira’s detainment broke, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed her arrest to PEOPLE, claiming that her tourist visa had expired in 1999.

They also alleged that Ferreira “has a previous arrest for battery,” but her attorney has repeatedly disputed this.

On Dec. 12, Ferreira also disputed the claim to CNN, describing herself as “a law-abiding citizen.”

Asked about the Trump administration’s repeated claim that she is a “criminal,” Ferreira told Burnett, “I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for my son. You know, I’m heartbroken for my mother, who has worked for a quarter of a century cleaning houses, earned an honest living, has paid her taxes. I’ve been a law-abiding citizen. I don’t even have a parking ticket. And I’m so proud of it.”

“I’m proud of my name and I carry it like a badge of honor, you know, like being on an honor roll,” she continued. “And now my child is sitting somewhere watching them broadcast this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a child, he must be terrified: ‘Is it true? Did my mom do something? Do I not know about it?’ Gossip in school … 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, honey. And we’re to square this all away.”

Recalling her weeks in detainment at ICE facilities, Ferreira said, “You have a lot of time to think in there, you know, and you really think the worst. You think the worst. But the luck that I had is that I was surrounded by so many women, so many women that had four children. One was pregnant. … I can’t imagine. I just tried to put myself in their shoes.”

“I was in such a horrible situation, but they were praying for me and I was praying for them,” she continued, acknowledging that she had the advantage of an attorney who was able to expedite the process. “I can’t fathom a mother not knowing where her son is for a year and a half, and who’s with him, what he’s eating, if he’s going to bed on time, if he’s sick. I can’t imagine,” she added. “It’s cruel.”

Ferreira became visibly choked up as she recalled cycling through several states. “When I got to Texas, I asked the ICE agent — because it said ‘Mexico’ — and I said, ‘Can you please, please, please have a little bit of empathy for me and tell me if you’re taking me across the border?’ And he said, ‘No, we’re taking you to the final destination, your final stop before your deportation,’ which is south Louisiana. Hardly anyone ever gets out of there,” she said.

“So I just mustered up the courage to cry and sleep throughout that final voyage,” Ferreira added. “And when I got to south Louisiana, I was finally able to, by the grace of God, some girl let me use her minutes to make a phone call and then to tell my family where I was and the attorneys.”

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In the final moments of her CNN appearance, Burnett asked Ferreira about the White House’s claim that she “never lived” with her son. Ferreira expressed confusion over the allegation, stating: “Why lie? Because 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.”

“Every Wednesday, typically, my son and I go to Dave & Buster’s ’cause it’s half off. We’re extreme couponers at our home,” she added with a laugh. “And I don’t, I can’t … I can’t wrap my mind around it, but it doesn’t make any sense.”

“I’m just as lost as you are,” Ferreira continued. “And I’m hoping that this interview gets me some answers.”