Karoline Leavitt has shared a touching tribute to her mom while offering a behind-the-scenes glance at her family’s Thanksgiving after Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained her nephew’s Brazilian mother.
The White House press secretary shared a series of happy snaps and short videos to her Instagram on Thursday, documenting her efforts ahead of the celebration.
She revealed she was using her mother’s stuffing recipe for her sit down dinner, and shared a snap of her pumpkin themed coffee mug in the kitchen.
‘I’ll be here all day – my happy place,’ she wrote, alongside an emoji of a chef.
The glimpse at how the Leavitt family is spending Thanksgiving comes just days after it emerged her nephew’s mother, Bruna Ferreira, had been picked up by ICE and was languishing in a southern Louisiana detention facility.
Ferreira was picked up by authorities in Revere, Massachusetts, earlier this month while trying to collect her 11-year-old son, Michael Leavitt Jr.
The little boy’s father is Leavitt’s brother, Michael Sr.
Her lawyer said she had arrived in 1998 and remained in the US under the federally protected Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. She was in the process of getting her residency.
Karoline Leavitt has offered a behind-the-scenes glance at her family’s Thanksgiving
She revealed she was using her mother’s stuffing recipe for her sit down dinner
The White House press secretary shared a series of happy snaps and short videos to her Instagram on Thursday, documenting her efforts ahead of the celebration
Michael Sr said in a statement that the 11-year-old lives with him and his wife full-time, but has always maintained a relationship with his biological mother.
He told WBUR his ‘only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of [his] son.’
Michael Sr said the little boy has not had an opportunity to speak with his mom since she was first detained by ICE ‘several weeks ago.’
Ferreira’s sister Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, 27, told The Boston Globe that Ferreira had desperately tried to tell ICE agents of her relationship to Leavitt at the time of her arrest.
‘They were not the most gentle with her,’ she said of the agents, who swarmed her car after Ferreira drove from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to pick up Michael.
‘I’m sure my sister was terrified, frantic. She’s been here since she was six years old. She’s more American than she is anything else.
‘I’m sure she tried to just use whatever she could come up with in the moment. However, it didn’t really help very much.’
Rodrigues – who launched a GoFundMe to support her sister – claims that both Michael Sr and his father, Bob Leavitt, had little advice for Ferreira after her arrest.
Ferreira shares a child with Leavitt’s brother, Michael (pictured together)
Ferreira had desperately tried to tell ICE agents of her relationship to Leavitt at the time of her arrest
It comes just days after it emerged her nephew’s mother, Bruna Ferreira (pictured), had been picked up by ICE and was languishing in a southern Louisiana detention facility
‘They just kept saying, ‘Tell her to self-deport.’ Self-deport to where? Brazil is not her home.’
Rodrigues also said Wednesday that Leavitt has not reached out to help.
‘If she were to help in any way, if she were willing to do anything to help us, she would have reached out by now. She has my phone number,’ Rodrigues said.
A source familiar with the family dynamic told the Daily Mail that Leavitt has not spoken with her nephew’s mother in many years.
‘This individual is the mother of Karoline’s nephew and they have not spoken in many years,’ the insider said.
‘The child has lived full-time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born. He has never resided with his mother.’
The Department of Homeland Security told the Daily Mail that Ferreira is a ‘criminal illegal alien’ who ‘has a previous arrest for battery.’
The spokesman added: ‘She entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by June 6, 1999.’
She shared a snap of her pumpkin themed coffee mug in the kitchen. ‘I’ll be here all day – my happy place,’ she wrote, alongside an emoji of a chef
Leavitt showed her family’s set up for Thanksgiving, and her husband carving the turkey
‘Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.’
Todd Pomerleau, an attorney representing Ferreira, said she was totally blindsided by her arrest and railed against DHS’s allegations about her supposed criminal charge.
‘Bruna has no criminal record whatsoever,’ Pomerleau said.
‘I don’t know where that is coming from. Show us the proof. There’s no charges out there. She’s not a criminal illegal alien.
‘She’s in the process of actually getting her residency and she was abruptly arrested and taken from her young child right before Thanksgiving.’
