WaPo: “Arrested Nov. 12 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ferreira, 33, said it is insulting to sit in orange prison scrubs facing possible removal to Brazil after spending most of her life in the United States while the Trump administration paints her as a criminal. She is being detained for being in the United States illegally, a civil violation, after overstaying a visa when she was a child.
“I asked Karoline to be godmother over my only sister,” she said Thursday in a video interview with The Washington Post. “I made a mistake there, in trusting. … Why they’re creating this narrative is beyond my wildest imagination.”
Since her arrest, the White House media office has portrayed Ferreira as an absentee mother who had not been in Karoline Leavitt’s orbit in years. The White House issued a statement that said Ferreira had not spoken to Leavitt in years and that Ferreira had never lived with her son. The White House also shared a Department of Homeland Security statement that called Ferreira a “criminal,” with a previous arrest for “battery,” though it has not responded to repeated requests for supporting documentation.”