The arrest
Like a family tragedy ripped from a dystopian soap opera, ICE has detained White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew's immigrant mother. If the reader is confused, let me connect the dots. Karoline's brother, Michael Leavitt, 35, had a relationship with Bruna Ferreira, 33. Their intimacy produced a son, Michael Leavitt Jr, now 11. In 2014, when Michael Jr. was an infant, his parents were engaged. However, they never married. And now they do not live together.
Ferreira was born in Brazil and came to the US as a child. She entered the country on a tourist visa that granted her a limited stay. She remained in the country illegally. But according to her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, she was working to legitimize her status under President Obama's DACA program.
The Trump administration didn't care. To DHS, Ferreira was an "illegal" without any rights. And they took action. According to the Boston radio station WBUR, federal agents detained her. And she is now being held in ICE custody in Louisiana.
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, gave details. She confirmed that:
"ICE arrested Bruna Caroline Ferreria [sic], a criminal illegal alien from Brazil. She has a previous arrest for battery. She entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by 6 June 1999. She is currently at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is in removal proceedings."
Adding: "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation."
Piling on
To further justify Ferreira's incarceration, McLaughlin claimed Ferreira had a "previous arrest for battery."
However, Ferreira's lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, intimated that the administration may not be telling the truth. He said, "They're labeling her a criminal because of some charge that I've never seen, that I don't think exists. I mean, show me it."
In addition, Todd told CNN, "We dispute that she has any criminal record. She is not a 'criminal illegal alien."
This back-and-forth would be a classic case of she said, he said, except Pomerleau has corroboration. WBUR searched the internet but could find no battery charges against Bruna Ferreira in Massachusetts' online court records.
Ferreira's sister also supports her sibling. On a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for legal fees, she writes, "Bruna was brought to the United States by our parents in December of 1998, when she was just a child … Since then, she has done everything in her power to build a stable, honest life here. She said Ferreira has "maintained her legal status through DACA."
The bad mother
The White House dismissed Ferreira's relationship with the Leavitt family as non-existent. A White House source familiar with the situation said, "This individual is the mother of Karoline's nephew, and they have not spoken in many years. The child has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father since birth. He has never resided with his mother."
However, this claim has an element of expedient spin. The language sure sounds like the White House is implying that Ferreira is out of her son's life. However, just because a child lives with one parent doesn't mean the other isn't involved in his upbringing. And the phrase "has never resided with his mother" is gratuitous when you have already said the child has lived since birth with his father. It is a framing calculated to smear Ferreira without adding any new information.
Pomerleau contested the government's version, saying, "People claiming my client has no relationship with her son, no custody, that's not true. They both share custody of their child." Without independent facts, it is impossible to say which version is correct definitively. However, in a MAGA administration, the odds are good that a defense lawyer is more honest than Trump's shills.
In addition, Michael Leavitt told WUBR that his 11-year-old son has lived with him since the boy was born, but that the child maintains a relationship with his mother.
One reason the father had custody might be that Leavitt Sr. won $1m in a DraftKings fantasy sports contest in 2014, according to The North Andover Eagle Tribune. Leaving him better financially situated to house the boy than the mother. But I speculate.
The Guardian also dents the White House message of maternal neglect by reporting that.
Ferreira was leaving her home to pick up her son from school in New Hampshire when her car was "suddenly swarmed" by ICE agents, according to the Boston Globe. Ferreira's sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, told the outlet that the agents demanded her name and driver's license, but Ferreira did not have an identification card.
A death of clarity
The whole story is murky. The White House has a track record of lying, and they may well be doing so here. In addition, it is unclear why WBUR searched Massachusetts records when Ferreira lived in New Hampshire.
We shouldn't be surprised. Gone are the days when authorities confined themselves to merely reporting the facts of a matter. Now every utterance is an example of obfuscation and misdirection. And this administration thinks facts are what they say they are.
Regardless, Trump promised America he would focus on rounding up and expelling criminal illegal aliens. He implied that everyone deported would be a tattooed homicidal, drug-dealing gang banger with no redeeming qualities. It is hard to see which of those boxes Bruna Ferreira checked.
