“They were not the most gentle with her,” she said.
Ferreira, 33, was detained and taken to the police station nearby. Stunned and desperate for help, she repeatedly told authorities the name of her son’s aunt: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, one of the most visible figures in the Trump administration and a prominent defender of its immigration crackdown.
Michael Leavitt Sr., 35, the brother of Karoline Leavitt, 28, and Ferreira broke up more than a decade ago, Dos Santos Rodrigues said. They share custody of their son, who lives primarily in New Hampshire, she said.
“I’m sure my sister was terrified, frantic. She’s been here since she was 6 years old. She’s more American than she is anything else,” said Dos Santos Rodrigues, 27, who lives in Winchester and works in child care. “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.”
Ferreira was eventually transferred to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in South Burlington, Vt. Ferreira told Dos Santos Rodrigues that the conditions were miserable and she felt unsafe, Dos Santos Rodrigues recalled. After being held there for a few days, she was moved to an ICE processing center in Louisiana, where she remains in custody, Dos Santos Rodrigues said.
Karoline Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Michael Leavitt Sr. released a statement to media outlets on Tuesday evening saying that his “only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of [his] son.”
He told WMUR that their son has not spoken with Ferreira since she was detained.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Ferreira “has a previous arrest for battery” and that she entered the country on a B-2 tourist visa that required her to leave by June 6, 1999. Ferreira is currently in removal proceedings in Louisiana, she said.
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation,” McLaughlin, who did not offer any information about Ferreira’s previous arrest, said in a statement.
Ferreira’s detention was previously reported by WBUR.
John J. Loscocco, an attorney who represented Ferreira until Wednesday, said she has no criminal history in the adult court system. “There’s no conviction of any kind,” he said.
Dos Santos Rodrigues described her sister as a devoted mother, a hard-working owner of a cleaning business, and a “people person.”
Their parents emigrated from Brazil in December 1998 and brought Ferreira with them, she said. Dos Santos Rodrigues and the siblings’ brother, Jason Valeriano, were born later in the United States, she noted.
“All my mom can do is sit and cry,” she said.
Todd Pomerleau, another attorney representing Ferreira, said she was a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that has shielded hundreds of thousands of people from deportation. She was in the process of getting her green card when she was detained, he said.
Loscocco said he first represented Ferreira around 2011, the year she graduated from Melrose High School, when he defended her during a removal matter. The case was paused in a move known as an administrative closure, he said, but it was recently put on the calendar.
Loscocco said that until her bond hearing, which he is hoping will take place early next week, he is in the dark about why Ferreira was detained, adding that she is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.
“This is unusual,” he said.
After Ferreira was detained, Dos Santos Rodrigues said Michael Leavitt Sr. and his father, Bob Leavitt, reached out to her.
“They just kept saying, ‘Tell her to self-deport,’” she said. “Self-deport to where? Brazil is not her home.”
Karoline Leavitt, who has posted several photos with her nephew on social media, has not reached out, Dos Santos Rodrigues said.
“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. We’ve been family for the last 13 years,” Dos Santos Rodrigues said. “I understand the policies and how it looks. But I also think when it comes to family, you put certain things aside. I don’t care who you work for.”
As she waits in the cold facility in Louisiana more than 1,600 miles from home, Ferreira has directed all of her focus on her son and his well-being, Dos Santos Rodrigues said.
Ferreira worries about him and hopes to be together during the holidays, Dos Santos Rodrigues said.
Ferreira frequently makes the drive to and from New Hampshire, where Michael Leavitt Jr. goes to school. She tries her best to cook the Brazilian meals he enjoys at his grandmother’s house, like coxinhas, deep-fried croquettes stuffed with chicken and cheese and covered in savory dough.
In a recent FaceTime call with her nephew, Dos Santos Rodrigues said she told her nephew to “hang in there.”
“He needs his mom home,” Dos Santos Rodrigues said. “He’s always asking, ‘When’s my mom coming home? Will she be home for Thanksgiving? Will she be home for Christmas?’”
“I don’t know what to tell him,” she said.
Nick Stoico of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Shannon Larson can be reached at shannon.larson@globe.com. Follow her @shannonlarson98.
