A baby that was in the arms of a minor who watched her mother taken away by federal immigration agents on Worcester’s Eureka Street on Thursday is safe, according to District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj.
The minor, who was also arrested by Worcester police officers that same day, has also been released from custody, according to Dálida Rocha, executive director of the Worcester Chapter of the social services organization, Neighbor2Neighbor.
No one had any information about the woman taken into custody by ICE on Thursday.
The baby is the child of the minor’s sister, who was also present when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took their mother on Eureka Street, Haxhiaj told MassLive on Friday.
Haxhiaj represents the district Eureka Street is located.
Both mother and baby are currently safe with someone within the mother’s network, the councilor said.
Haxhiaj added she did not know the names or whereabouts of the four family members.
The minor, the sister of the baby’s mother, was arrested by Worcester police officers on Thursday for reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to police.
She was provided legal counsel provided by Neighbor2Neighbor, which was also prepared to pay her bail, according to Rocha.
The family’s lawyer then took over representation of the minor and she was released from custody as of Friday, the executive director said.
Rocha said that she does not know the minor’s name or whereabouts after she was released.
What happened that day
Eureka Street erupted into chaos Thursday morning as more than 30 people approached and shouted at ICE agents who were present. The mother of the two sisters was in a van in the middle of the street by 11 a.m that morning, according to Jill Phillips of Worcester, who was at the scene.
Worcester police officers were then called to the street for a report that an ICE agent had been surrounded by 25 people before 11:15 a.m., Worcester police said in a press release Thursday night.
As people gathered in response to the incident, the crowd became “hostile,” police said in the statement.
At the scene, officers saw several federal agents from various agencies attempting to leave in a car after arresting a woman, police said.
As the car was pulling away, the minor, who had the baby in her arms, stood in front of the car attempting to halt it, police said. Officers told her that she was endangering the baby and that she needed to move.
She eventually complied and gave the newborn to someone else, according to police. As the car drove off, she ran after it and kicked the passenger’s side.
It then appeared as if she was going to run in front of the moving car, police said. Officers ultimately arrested her.
Worcester police charged her with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police said. The infant was not injured during the incident.
Because the individual is a minor, a spokesperson for the Worcester Police Department did not give her name to MassLive. The spokesperson added they have nothing further about the minor at this time.
Ashley R. Spring, a candidate running for the Worcester School Committee, was also arrested at the scene, according to a police report.
At 11:13 a.m.officers saw Spring push and shove other officers trying to arrest the minor, according to the police report.
“Officers also observed Ashley directly point at and spray an unknown liquid in a bottle at officers that were on duty attempting to conduct their job,” the report read.
Spring was arrested and appeared in Worcester District Court on Friday where she was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and interfering with police officers.
Judge Janet McGuiggan entered a not-guilty plea on Spring’s behalf. Spring was released on her own personal recognizance and is scheduled to return to court for a pre-trial hearing on June 23.
A family ‘ripped apart’
Haxhiaj, who was at the scene of the arrests and the detention, said that what she saw was a family being “ripped apart.”
“I was scared, I was frustrated, I was sad,” she said. “To watch the mom being taken away and her daughters and the child, I think I was going through grief.”
During the arrest of the minor, Haxhiaj told Worcester Police Lt. J.L. Bossolt that police used unnecessary force to arrest her.
The minor was pushed to the ground by Worcester police officers during her arrest.
“All you needed to do was to have one of us hold her and contain her,” Haxhiaj told Worcester Police Lt. J.L. Bossolt. “You didn’t have to take her. It’s use of force that is unnecessary.”
After the arrests, Bossolt told MassLive that officers were not helping ICE arrest anyone, but that officers were there to “keep the peace.”
Following Thursday’s events, Mayor Joseph Petty requested that City Manager Eric D. Batista provide a detailed review of what happened on Eureka Street, including body camera footage.
Petty also submitted an order on Friday asking Batista and Police Chief Saucier to draft a policy for how city officials interact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Members of Neighbor2Neighbor were also present on Eureka Street on Thursday to provide support for the family, Rocha said.
As a member of the Immigration Justice Network of Massachusetts (LUCE), Neighbor2Neighbor helps provide support for immigrant families and was able to be on the scene when the event took place.
Neighbor2Neighbor takes part in rapid response training, family preparedness and teaching people their rights in response to potential ICE raids or arrests, Rocha said.
“We were able to bear witness to what was happening,” Rocha told MassLive. “We had a lot of trained advocates on scene.”
During a press conference on Friday at the YWCA, Haxhiaj, Rocha, along with other local elected officials and community leaders in Worcester spoke out against what happened on Thursday, with Haxhiaj telling ICE to: “Get out of our city.”
“What the response yesterday from the federal government and the police department was completely unacceptable,” Haxhiaj said.
