Two people were arrested and a family ripped asunder in Worcester, Mass., when a crowd swarmed federal immigration agents as they snatched a woman ahead of Mother’s Day.
One of those arrested was the woman’s 16-year-old daughter, who was charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after she tried to block the vehicle her mother was in, while cradling her baby niece in her arms. Also arrested was Worcester School Committee candidate Ashley Spring, 38, who allegedly threw an unknown liquid at an officer, among other offenses. Both were later released, the Boston Herald reported.
About a thousand people gathered at the city green on Sunday to protest the arrest and the manner in which it was carried out. More rallies are set for Tuesday, WCVB-TV reported.
The chaos erupted Thursday when more than two dozen people surrounded agents as they apprehended the woman, whom ICE later identified as “violent criminal illegal alien Ferreira de Oliveira.”
Worcester police said officers were there to deescalate the situation, but bystanders said they couldn’t tell whether cops were protecting the public or the agents.
“We saw both federal and Worcester officers descend on a family with a level of aggression that you would use when apprehending someone who is known to be dangerous and carrying weapons,” Fred Taylor of the Worcester NAACP told WBZ-TV, while another said that the agents, some masked, refused to produce a warrant.
The mom being detained was “truly screaming,” witness Dali RaRocha told WBZ. “Those are the screams I have truly engrained in my ears right now.”
ICE claimed de Oliveira had been “arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a pregnant victim” and blamed “the previous administration’s open border policies” for her August 2022 entry into the U.S. Journalists at Boston.com scoured public records but could not find court filings to support ICE’s claim.
Both ICE and the local police union called out City of Worcester district council member Etel Haxhiaj, claiming she had incited the crowd. Haxhiaj was seen chastising officers for their treatment of the teen and initially putting herself between the agents and the woman being taken away.
Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty directed the city manager and police chief to draft a policy spelling out how city officials should interact with ICE, MassLive.com reported.
“As someone who prides themselves on leading a welcoming city, I am devastated to hear about the separation of a family, especially with Mother’s Day around the corner,” Petty told WBZ after the incident. The fear of ICE tearing a family apart is the worst nightmare of so many in our city.”
