Revere woman with White House ties has been released from ICE custody

Bruna Ferreira has been released from ICE custody, her lawyer confirmed, after three weeks in detention in Louisiana.

The 33-year-old was arrested by immigration agents in Revere last month. She has said she was on the way to pick up her son, the nephew of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Ferreira, a Brazilian national who's lived in the United State since childhood, was released on a $1,500 bond earlier this week and must still face deportation proceedings in court.

On Tuesday night, Ferreira's sister said friends and family planned to gather in Saugus to celebrate her return. But, she said, Ferreira fell out of touch and that meeting appeared not to happen. Michael Leavitt, the father of the 11-year-old son he shares with Ferreira, said Tuesday night that he hadn't heard from her.

Ferreira's lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, would not confirm her whereabouts, saying only that she is "out of custody in a safe place" in the U.S.

WBUR has reported that Ferreira and Leavitt had a contentious custody battle. Most recently, the boy has been living with his father in New Hampshire, and his mother shares custody. Michael Leavitt has insisted that he and his family had nothing to do with the ICE arrest.

The Department of Homeland Security said agents arrested Ferreira because she overstayed a tourist visa and allegedly has a "previous arrest for battery," but provided no details. In a search of records at police stations in several places where she has lived, WBUR found one report of a fist-fight incident when she was a juvenile. Her lawyer has said that was not a justification for ICE to arrest her.

When news of Ferreira's detention first became public last month, a Trump administration official said Karoline Leavitt had not spoken to Ferreira in years, and denied she had a hand in the arrest.