Massachusetts US Attorney: Anyone who attempts to interfere with ICE will be investigated

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on May 14, 2025

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BOSTON — Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has warned that her office will investigate anyone who tries to interfere with ICE operations across the Bay State, and that includes elected officials.

The notice comes a week after a chaotic altercation in Worcester that featured activists, including a city councilor, attempting to block federal agents from detaining a criminal illegal alien accused of assaulting her pregnant 16-year-old daughter

Foley did not directly refer to the Worcester incident but highlighted how the “interference with ICE operations around Massachusetts has been disturbing, to say the least.”

“This conduct poses significant public and officer safety risks,” Foley said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is conduct that should be vilified rather than glorified. 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.”

“The United States Attorney’s Office, along with our federal partners,” she added, “will investigate any violations of federal law and pursue charges that are warranted by such activity.”

Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj has been called out for shielding Rosane Ferreira De Oliveira, the target of last Thursday’s ICE operation, from law enforcement at the scene in a residential neighborhood she represents.

The councilor is seen in videos posted on social media confronting city police officers who responded to the scene after receiving reports that a group of roughly 25 activists had surrounded federal agents.

Haxhiaj told one of the officers, “I am trying to protect my constituent. I have the right to be here. I am the city councilor, and I am protecting my constituents.”

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement identifying Ferreira De Oliveira as a “violent criminal illegal alien,” slammed Haxhiaj for pulling a “political stunt” and inciting “chaos.”

Ferreria De Oliveria, 40, originally from Brazil, faces charges of assault and battery on a pregnant victim and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon from a domestic incident involving her juvenile daughter in February.

During a court hearing on Tuesday, a judge set a July 18 trial date on the charges for Ferreira De Oliveria, who is said to have entered the country illegally in August 2022.

The Worcester Police Patrol Officers’ Union has also demanded that the city perform an ethics investigation into Haxhiaj’s conduct.

Haxhiaj did not speak about the ICE operation during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, held virtually after city officials received “threats of violence,” and has not responded to requests for comment.

City Council Vice Chairman Khrystian King has said his colleague showed “moral leadership” in her response and that “she rose to the moment – not for politics, but for principle.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also come under fire for a raid it conducted in Waltham on Tuesday, with an agent seen in a video smashing the window of a work van to pull out a man being targeted.

Waltham City Councilor Colleen Bradley-MacArthur also reported that agents arrested someone walking with a child, leaving the child on a sidewalk.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston office has responded to rumors that nannies are being targeted at Boston playgrounds, saying they are “false and unnecessarily risk the safety of our officers and agents.”

“Any rumors that ICE officers are targeting nannies at playgrounds or parks are entirely false and absolutely ridiculous,” Acting Field Director Patricia H. Hyde said in a statement Tuesday. “Such rumors amount to nothing more than scare tactics and unnecessarily place the safety of our brave officers in jeopardy.”

ICE reported Wednesday that agents arrested four illegal aliens convicted of child sex crimes across the country on Monday, including one in Massachusetts.

Agents arrested Uruguayan national Carlos Araujo in Leominster. The registered sex offender has a prior conviction for indecent assault and battery on a 7-year-old.

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