
Worcester Police arrest 2 after assisting ICE agents with ‘hostile crowd’
The Worcester Police Department arrested two protesters after responding to a call for a “hostile crowd” that had “surrounded” a federal ICE agent.
Dozens of city residents gathered on Eureka Street, in a residential neighborhood, when the showdown with federal agents sparked anger Thursday morning.
Worcester Police were not initially on the scene but responded at about 11:13 a.m. after receiving a report of a “federal agent” being “surrounded by a large group of about twenty-five people.”
City police reportedly arrested a teenage girl and a city resident running as a candidate for School Committee.
“We also received a call from someone saying that ICE officers were on scene and refusing to show a warrant to the crowd,” the department wrote in a release posted on social media Thursday evening. Police added, “Officers responded to preserve the peace and prevent anyone from being injured.”
“When officers arrived on scene, they observed a chaotic scene with several federal agents from various agencies attempting to take a female into custody,” the department’s release states. “Federal agents had placed this female under arrest and were attempting to leave in a vehicle. The crowd was unruly, and several people were putting their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers in an attempt to keep the vehicle and the arrestee from leaving. Worcester officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and keep everyone safe.”
The police added: “As the vehicle went to pull away, a juvenile female had a newborn baby in her arms and was standing in front of the car with the newborn.”
That’s when police told her that she was “endangering the child and that she needed to move. Eventually she complied and gave the newborn to someone else. As the vehicle moved away, she ran after the vehicle and kicked the passenger’s side of it. It appeared that she was going to run in front of the moving vehicle, and officers took her into custody.”
The juvenile has been charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The infant was not injured, according to police.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to Herald requests for comment.
Advocacy groups Neighbor to Neighbor and LUCE Immigrant Justice Network said in a release Thursday afternoon that a “local immigrant family, including a grandmother, mother, and their two children, one 16-year-old daughter and one 1-year-old infant” was “targeted” in the morning action.
The groups alleged that ICE agents detained the father of the family on Wednesday “without presenting a judicial warrant.”
Federal agents reportedly returned again early Thursday morning, allegedly detaining the “elderly woman with a warrant,” according to the groups.
Residents started to gather in the area as federal agents interacted with the family, advocates said.
“As the situation escalated, the residents, fearing the abduction of yet another immigrant family, responded to the threat of agents attempting the arrest,” a release states. “Residents formed a circle around the local family, chanting and yelling, furious and horrified about yet another targeted attack on the immigrant community in Worcester, which makes up almost a quarter of the city’s population.”
Amid the “chaotic incident,” Worcester Police also arrested 38-year-old city resident Ashley Spring for allegedly “pushing multiple officers as they attempted to arrest the juvenile.”
Spring, a School Committee candidate, also allegedly “threw an unknown liquid substance” on the officers. She had been charged with Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon (unknown liquid), Disorderly Conduct, and Interfering with a Police Officer.
Videos that surfaced on social media from the scene showed residents interacting with Worcester Police officers and federal agents. They are heard asking “Where’s the warrant?”
City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj responded to the scene and called the Trump administration’s deportation efforts “absolutely unconstitutional.”
“As an elected official, it is my obligation to stand up for my constituents,” she said in a statement. “I am also a mother, the daughter of immigrants, and her neighbor — I will not sit idly while our families are brutally torn apart.”
The altercation remained under investigation as of Thursday evening, with police reviewing video and warning that “further charges might be forthcoming.”