A disturbing new video captures masked ICE agents in unmarked vehicles swarming the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew before hauling her away.
The video, first published by TMZ, shows 33-year-old Bruna Ferreira being taken into ICE custody on Nov. 12 in Revere, Massachusetts. Ferreira was in regular contact with Leavitt’s family while she co-parented her 11-year-old son, who is the press secretary’s nephew and godson, her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, told the Daily Beast.
The Brazilian national came to the United States at age 6 and was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status, the 2012 program that offers deportation protections and work permits to people brought to the U.S. as children.
The 90-second video shows Ferreira driving a sedan in a parking lot when at least five unmarked vehicles with tinted windows surround her. Pomerleau said the incident occurred as the young mother was en route to pick her son up from school.
Once Ferreira’s path was blocked, masked agents piled out of their cars. At first, she believed it was a traffic stop, Pomerleau said.
“They immediately asked her for her license, which suggests it’s a traffic stop. Why would you ask somebody for their license if you already know who you’re pulling over, right?” he asked.
Pomerleau said Ferreira began rifling through her purse for her license until one of the agents asked, “Are you Bruna?”
With no warrant in sight, the masked agents ordered Ferreira out of the car, threw her against a vehicle, and handcuffed her within seconds. One of the agents then hopped into Ferreira’s car and drove it away.
The case has thrust Leavitt’s New Hampshire family into the spotlight, leaving the White House scrambling to distance the 28-year-old press secretary and her relatives from Ferreira, who is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. White House insiders have repeatedly claimed Leavitt hasn’t spoken to her nephew’s mother in “years,” which Pomerleau has insisted is untrue.
The attorney added that Ferreira “literally picked Karoline to be the godmother” of the child ”over her own sister.”
Just a few weeks before her arrest, Ferreira was cheering for her son at a recreational football game alongside the Leavitts, her lawyer said. Pomerleau further claimed that the Leavitts were aware Ferreira was in the process of obtaining a green card, which would allow her to reside permanently in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security alleges the Brazilian national overstayed a tourist visa.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and ICE for comment.
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