A judge ordered ICE to release a Brazilian woman with ties to White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Brazilian woman with family ties to White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt will be released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody while she fights possible deportation, an immigration judge ruled Monday.

Bruna Ferreira, 33, is a longtime Massachusetts resident who was previously engaged to Levitt’s brother, Michael. She was driving to pick up their 11-year-old son in New Hampshire when ICE agents arrested her in Revere, Massachusetts, on November 12.

Ferreira was later transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where an immigration judge ordered her released on $1,500 bail, her attorney Todd Pomerleau said.

“We said she does not pose a danger or a flight risk,” he said in a text message. “The government stuck to our argument and never claimed she was a criminal illegal alien and waived the appeal.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson in an email on Monday called Ferrera a “criminal illegal alien” and said she had been arrested for battery, a claim her lawyer denied.

“She will undergo periodic mandatory checks with ICE law enforcement to ensure she is complying with the conditions of her release,” the spokesperson said. “DHS will continue to work to remove all aliens illegally in the country as quickly as possible.”

Pomerleau said his client came to the United States as a young child and later enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era policy that protects immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. He said she was in the process of applying for a green card.

Carolyn Leavitt grew up in New Hampshire, and successfully ran for Congress from the state in 2022 before becoming Trump’s spokeswoman for his 2024 campaign and later joining him in the White House.