Dem City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj was seen pushing immigration authorities, blocking them with her body, shouting, "You cannot take her," and saying at one point with her body in between a woman and authorities who explained that she could face arrest for obstruction, "This is my constituent."
During the incident, immigration authorities took 40-year-old Rosane Ferreira de Oliveira, a Brazilian national who entered the country illegally in August 2022, into custody, per the Daily Mail. De Oliveira was charged with endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
De Oliveira’s teenage daughter was also charged, after she ran to the car her mother had been placed in and kicked it in, all after handing her sister’s child to another person. The juvenile was charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and was later released from custody.
The older sister of the teen, Augusta Clara, said in a GoFundMe that ICE came to her home the day after they arrested her partner while he was driving to work. ICE came to her home the day the footage was taken, "demanding I return my partner’s car and report to sign immigration paperwork."
She said she went outside the house with her baby and teenage sister "intending to comply," but ICE told her that she was under arrest. That’s when she called her mother outside to take the baby, and "ICE agents tried to arrest her too."
Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "District Councilor for the City of Worcester [Etel] Haxhiaj pulled a political stunt and incited chaos by trying to obstruct law enforcement. ICE officers and local police regained control of the situation and ICE arrested Ferreira de Oliveira. The previous administration’s open border policies allowed this criminal to illegally enter our country in August of 2022. Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem this criminal is off our streets," per Fox News.
DHS described Oliveira as a "violent criminal alien" who had been arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a pregnant woman.
The Worcester Police Patrol Officers’ Union said in a statement that officers were dispatched at around 11:15 am on May 8 to assist federal law enforcement officers due to the hostile crowd that had gathered.
"Officers arriving on scene continued to call for more officers as the scene continued to escalate rapidly," the union said. "Police officers respond to a variety of highly emotional calls daily and there is nothing that can be more emotional or difficult to deal with than a call that involves times when families are separated or arrested or taken into custody in front of other family members. These types of calls for assistance can be extremely dangerous and place officers at a high risk of injury due to the high emotions people feel at the time."
The union said that both federal and local authorities were "threatened, abused and even assaulted," and added, "Such conduct cannot be tolerated or condoned. Because some protesters threatened officers' safety, police had to make additional arrests."
"Of particular concern in this case, one of our elected policy makers and someone who has created this difficult task for the police, District 5 City Councilor, Etel Haxhiaj, incited aggression towards the police during the incident. This councilor participated in the conduct of the unruly crowd and eventually assaulted both Worcester police and federal law enforcement officers on scene. Her behavior also emboldened others to act in this manner."
