Worcester, Massachusetts, community leaders demand transparency after chaos unfolded during ICE arrest
Rhondella Richardson, Jennifer Peñate
Updated: 11:25 AM EDT May 11, 2025
Worcester residents are demanding transparency from the city on Friday, after chaos unfolded Thursday morning when federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a Brazilian woman, sparking a protest from a large crowd who attempted to block the agents’ car from leaving, resulting in multiple arrests.
Video shows the ICE agents move in on the Brazilian family on Eureka Street on Thursday, as the woman’s blood-curdling screams are heard.
The woman was later identified by ICE as Ferreira de Oliveira. According to a statement by ICE, de Oliveira was arrested on assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a pregnant victim charges.
Many of the same protestors who were blocking the agents’ car and chanting “where is the warrant” during Thursday’s arrest, packed inside the YWCA on Friday, angry and demanding answers. The protestors said they showed up after a community hotline told them ICE was on scene.
“The message for ICE is to get out of our city,” Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said to applause from residents on Friday.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, a St. Francis Therese Catholic worker, was at the scene and explained it escalated when a child needed the bathroom.
“My understanding (is) that it was a mother and two daughters, one of whom had a little baby in her arms, a 1-month-old baby,” Schaeffer-Duffy said. “The father has already been taken, so the mother is now going to get taken and leave behind these two daughters, one of whom just had a baby? It was a moment of a lot of anguish. At some point, you just say, this child has to go to the bathroom, we’re going.”
Worcester city leaders gathered on Friday to fight back, calling for a civilian review board.
“We know that ICE, we know that the federal government, is descending upon communities of color,” Worcester City Councilor Khrystian King said.
Police arrested the juvenile daughter, while charges of assault and battery, disorderly conduct and spraying an unknown liquid on police came down on protester Ashley Spring, a 38-year-old who is running for the Worcester School Committee.
“I definitely feel supported by my community here,” Spring said.
Spring was released on personal recognizance. She and her defense attorney Charlton Williams are hoping her case gets dismissed.
“What happened yesterday is the behavior of heroes,” Williams said.
The whereabouts of de Oliveira are still unknown as of Sunday.