A lawyer representing the mother of a Trump administration official's nephew, who is currently in the custody of immigration agents, pushed back on claims made about the nature of their relationship, according to a new report.
Bruna Ferreira, the mother of Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew, and her son were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as part of the administration's broad crackdown on illegal immigration. Ferreira, a Brazilian national, has lived in the country for years and was in the process of getting her green card at the time of her arrest, according to a report by The Irish Star.
After news of Ferreira's arrest was reported, a source close to the White House told The Daily Beast that Leavitt and Ferreira "had not spoken in many years," according to the report.
Todd Pomerleau, who is representing Ferreira, took a wrecking ball to those assertions in an interview with The Irish Star.
“She’s seen and talked to Karoline Leavitt definitely within the past year, if not the past months,” he told the outlet.
Pomerleau added that Leavitt and Ferreira attended a soccer game for Ferreira's son, Michael Jr., weeks before she was detained.
“A few weeks before her arrest, she’s still a ‘criminal illegal alien’ hanging out with the Leavitt family that’s preaching against criminal legal aliens,” Pomerleau told The Irish Star. “She was a ‘criminal legal alien’ back when she was dating Michael Leavitt, and he had no issue with it.”