
Lucas: Worcester councilor missed the memo on police interference
That Worcester city councilor under arrest should have read the memo.
It was Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s guide warning people not to interfere with ICE agents rounding up illegal immigrants.
Although Campbell’s “Know Your Rights” guide was issued to help immigrants, criminal or otherwise—and not the forgotten victims of illegal immigrant crime—it could also apply to politicians.
Campbell, along with other progressive Democrats like Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, have more to say about protecting the rights of illegal immigrants, including the violent criminals among them, than they do the rights of the victims.
There is no “Know Your Rights” publication for Massachusetts citizens.
Campbell, upon the release of her guidelines, said “the aggressive ICE tactics we’re seeing across the Commonwealth do not protect the public, and instead spread fear. In releasing this guidance, I strongly encourage everyone to inform themselves of their rights when they see immigration officers in their communities.”
One of Campbell’s guidelines for onlookers or bystanders to an ICE operation, however, is the warning that, while watching an ICE interaction, they “are not allowed to obstruct, impede or assault an ICE officer.”
That is what Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj allegedly did when she apparently physically interfered with the ICE takedown of Ferreira De Oliveira, an alleged illegal immigrant from Brazil who was accused of hitting her pregnant daughter with a phone charger.
Only in Haxhiaj’s case the police official she allegedly assaulted was a Worcester cop, one of several who came to the aid of a squad of ICE agents who were besieged by some 25 activists protesting the De Oliveira takedown. And the cop was not even wearing a mask.
And when Haxhiaj, who came to the U.S. from Albania as a child, was arrested, it came only after the Worcester Police Patrol Officers’ Union demanded an investigation into her conduct, which it called “deplorable and unacceptable.”
It’ is a wonder that in illegal immigrant friendly Massachusetts, which is a haven for deadbeat foreigners, the cop was not arrested instead of De Oliveira or before Haxhiaj. Progressives would have called that justice.
Perhaps Campbell, the state’s “chief law enforcement officer,” simply did not think of it.
Democrat politicians lining up to be arrested for obstructing ICE illegal immigrant actions, even after they have gone after murderers, child rapists and drug dealers, has become a new way of gaining attention and raising campaign funds.
It may be unsavory, but it works.
The next thing you know Mayor Wu, who is opposed for reelection, will get arrested for throwing a punch at an ICE agent or even at U.S Attorney Leah Foley, who has gone after Wu for making outrageous comments about ICE agents, calling them “secret police.”
Wu charged that Foley’s “secret police who are wearing masks” were “snatching people off the streets.”
While the ICE agents do wear masks to ward off being doxed, Wu never complained about masks worn by Antifa, BLM or pro Hamas rioters.
Foley said Wu’s remarks were “offensive,” which they were
“There are no secret police. ICE agents, along with other federal law enforcement partners, are making immigration arrests. That is no secret,” Foley said.
But it does not matter. There is a campaign to win.
And Wu brought Foley into it. By going after Foley, and Foley responding, Wu turned the mayoral campaign into a fight between her and Foley, who is not on the ballot, while sidelining Josh Kraft, who is.
It may have something to do with illegal immigration. But it has a lot to do with re-election as well.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.
AG Andrea Campbell (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)