Officials have detained the mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement efforts, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took the woman into custody in Revere, Massachusetts, this month, the source said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Bruna Caroline Ferreira is a “criminal illegal alien from Brazil” who overstayed her tourist visa, which expired in June 1999.
The woman has an arrest on suspicion of battery, the spokesperson said. It’s not clear how the case was resolved.
Ferreira, who the source familiar with the situation said has never lived with Leavitt’s nephew, is at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center amid proceedings to have her removed, the DHS spokesperson said.
Under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the spokesperson said, “all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.”
The source said Leavitt’s nephew has lived full time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born, has never resided with his mother and has not spoken with her in many years.
The story was first reported by Boston University public broadcaster and news platform WBUR. Leavitt declined to comment to WBUR.
Ferreira’s family said in a GoFundMe campaign that she was brought to the United States as a child in 1998 and that she has done “everything in her power to build a stable, honest life here.”
It says she “maintained her legal status” in the United States by receiving protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which seeks to allow immigrants brought to the United States as children, albeit illegally, to enjoy protection from removal.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that DACA recipients have been among those detained in immigration sweeps.
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement published in the AP story Tuesday that DACA recipients can lose status “for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”
