United States Attorney of Massachusetts Leah Foley issued a statement Wednesday warning against interfering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
“I will not stand idly by if any public official, public safety officer, organization or private citizen acts in a manner that criminally obstructs or impedes ICE operations,” Foley said. “The United States Attorney’s Office, along with our federal partners, will investigate any violations of federal law and pursue charges that are warranted by such activity.”
In her statement, Foley spoke out against interference attempts with ICE operations around Massachusetts, but did not specify which operations she was speaking of.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office provided no further comment on Wednesday to MassLive.
Chaos during ICE arrest in Worcester
Several recent ICE arrests in Massachusetts have featured a response from the public.
In Worcester on May 8, ICE agents descended upon Eureka Street and arrested Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira of Brazil.
On the morning of May 8, pandemonium broke out on Eureka Street as more than 30 people protested and confronted ICE agents for arresting Ferreira-De Oliveira.
Screams and chants of “where is the warrant” were heard throughout the neighborhood. By about 11 a.m. Ferreira-De Oliveira was placed in a car in the middle of the streets according to Jill Phillips of Worcester, who was at the scene.
After 11 a.m., Worcester police officers arrived on Eureka Street. The officers were called to the scene when a federal agent who was surrounded by a “large group of about 25 people,” police said in a statement.
As the car containing Ferreira-De Oliveira was about to leave, her daughter, who carried a newborn in her arms, stood in front of the car and tried to stop it, police said.
Officers told her that she was endangering the baby and that she needed to move. She handed the baby to another woman, ran up to the car and kicked the passenger side door as the car drove away.
Officers then arrested the daughter, pushing her to the ground.
Ashely R. Spring, a candidate running for the Worcester School Committee, was also arrested on Eureka Street.
ICE agent held in contempt of court following Boston arrest
In March, federal agents arrested a man in the middle of a trial related to charges of falsifying RMV records.
The man in question is Wilson Martell-Lebron, a 49-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic who entered the country illegally and has no lawful status, according to a court filing by the Department of Homeland Security.
Martell-Lebron had been at the Edward W. Brooke courthouse for the first day of his trial on March 27 when he was taken by plainclothes ICE agents outside the courthouse.
On March 31, Boston Judge Mark Summerville found ICE agent Brian Sullivan, one of the ICE agents involved in the operation, in contempt of court. He said Sullivan committed “intentional and egregious violations of the defendant’s rights” to a fair trial and due process by detaining him before his criminal trial had concluded.
Foley’s office sought to dismiss the contempt charge by the Boston judge and in April, Federal Judge William G. Young dismissed Summerville’s contempt ruling against Sullivan.
ICE arrest of Tufts student draws ire
Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts doctoral student, was arrested and detained by ICE on March 25. Immigration officials surrounded Öztürk in Massachusetts and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane bound for a detention center in Basile, Louisiana.
Her student visa had been revoked several days earlier, but she was not informed of that, according to her lawyers.
She was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists who demanded Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Öztürk, 30, has since been released on bail and returned to Boston on May 10.
“In the last 45 days, I lost both my freedom and also my education during a crucial time for my doctoral studies,” she said during a press conference at Logan International Airport in Boston. “But I am so grateful for all the support, kindness and care.”
Ongoing protests of ICE
Several protests against ICE have taken place in Worcester, the most recent one occurring on May 13 outside city hall.
People banged on drums, rang cowbells and chanted for ICE to “get out of Worcester.”
“We want change,” said rally organizer Mysti Green. “Changes to City Hall and then go to the state and then the White House. That’s the goal, and to mobilize.”
