ICE Detains Immigrant Tied To Leavitt As Alleged Family Custody Clash Spills Into Politics

A dramatic clash between family ties and immigration policy now lands at the door of the White House.

A Brazilian immigrant, Bruna Caroline Ferreira, formerly engaged to Michael Leavitt, brother of Karoline Leavitt, has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), fuelling suspicion that the move could influence a long-standing child custody dispute. The case raises sharp questions over whether immigration enforcement is being used to reshape family dynamics in a high-profile political household.

Karoline Leavitt, now White House press secretary, has notably defended aggressive immigration crackdowns, even as a relative by marriage faces deportation proceedings.

ICE Detention: What We Know

On 12 November 2025, Bruna Ferreira was stopped by ICE agents in Revere, Massachusetts, while driving to pick up her 11-year-old son in New Hampshire. Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, says she was never told why she was detained. She was subsequently transferred across multiple states, from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, then Vermont, and finally to a detention facility in Louisiana.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Ferreira originally entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa that required her departure by 6 June 1999. A DHS spokesperson also alleged she had a prior arrest for battery.

But Pomerleau and Ferreira's family strongly contests those claims. They note that comprehensive searches of Massachusetts online court records turned up no conviction. He argues she has been a long-time law-abiding resident, a business owner paying taxes, and a mother who shared custody of her son with Michael Leavitt.

DHS insists Ferreira is now in removal proceedings at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.

Family Custody and Politics: A Tangled Web

Ferreira and Michael Leavitt share a son, now aged 11. The couple were once engaged but split up more than a decade ago, yet continued co-parenting. Their son reportedly split time between his mother in Massachusetts and his father in New Hampshire.

Since her detention, the child reportedly lives solely with his father and stepmother. Michael Leavitt told local media his primary concern is the welfare and stability of his child.

Critics argue that Ferreira's detention, under murky circumstances and without a transparent explanation, may have effectively resolved the custody issue in favour of the father. This suspicion intensifies because of the political prominence of Karoline Leavitt, whose public role and vocal support for stringent immigration enforcement collide with the personal tragedy unfolding in her extended family.

Legal observers are raising an alarm. Pomerleau called the removal proceedings 'unconstitutional' and described Ferreira's removal as part of an indiscriminate mass-deportation campaign targeting long-term residents with tenuous immigration status.

Wider Implications Under the Trump Administration

The case shows the evolving landscape of US immigration enforcement under US President Donald J. Trump and his administration's insistence that prior protections such as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) do not confer legal permanence or immunity from deportation. DHS officials reaffirm that every individual deemed unlawfully present is subject to removal, regardless of personal history or family connections.

Ferreira's supporters point out that she entered the United States as a child and spent decades building her life, business, and family in Massachusetts. Her supporters are now mobilising funds to cover her legal defence, framing the case as emblematic of broader injustices inflicted on immigrants under sweeping enforcement policies.

This detention sends shockwaves beyond the Leavitt household. Human-rights advocates warn of a chilling message, that even persons with deep roots and family connections may not be safe under current immigration enforcement.

Supporters view this as a test for the administration, does public policy stop at rhetoric, or does it extend to the very lives of ordinary people caught in political crosswinds?

The detention of Bruna Caroline Ferreira forces a confrontation, can immigration enforcement remain a matter of policy when it reaches into the private lives of political families and upends the lives of children?