The City Manager of Worcester, Massachusetts, has issued an executive order banning his police department and other city agencies from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Manager Eric Batista’s executive order came on the heels of the release of police body cam footage of the arrest of Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, who attempted to interfere in the legal actions by ICE agents.
Batista issued the order on May 16 to warn city officials and members of the city’s police department against working with ICE. The order states that “municipal employees shall not participate in an operation led by a federal agency solely for the enforcement of federal civil immigration laws.”
Democrats are waging legal insurrection against the sovereignty of the United States. https://t.co/3xzTCAdpFu
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) May 19, 2025
Employees, the order says, “shall not inquire about immigration status nor shall immigration status impact the treatment of a resident, victim, suspect, arrestee, 911 caller, or other member of the public with whom a Municipal employee has contact.”
Police body cam shows Worcester City Councilwoman Etel Haxhiaj assaulting federal and local law enforcement officers and impeding the arrest of an illegal alien despite being warned:
— Bluegrasspatriot (@kylawndog) May 18, 2025
“You are obstructing federal arrest.. do you understand that? You can be charged.”
🇺🇸Join👉… pic.twitter.com/xuhYtP63B9
The document goes on to order the police not to “initiate investigations or take law enforcement action solely on the basis of immigration status.”
Batista’s order also prevents police from holding suspects on an immigration detainer.
“No person will be arrested or held by the WPD solely on the basis of a federal civil immigration detainer, including extending the length of detention by any amount of time once an individual is released from local custody, or before being transferred to court or admitted to bail,” the order states.
#HappeningNow: Worcester PD released body cam footage from the Eureka St incident last week.
— bella pelletiere (@Bellapell__) May 16, 2025
The city says “enforcement of immigration laws is within the jurisdiction of the fed government, not the municipality.” +
Courtesy: WPD pic.twitter.com/B2AERsIIv1
Batista tried to cover himself by concluding his order saying, “Nothing in this order shall prevent the Municipality or the WPD from working with the federal government to comply with the law. Nor shall anything in this order prevent the WPD from working with ICE, or any federal agency, in their official capacity so long as the sole purpose is not the enforcement of civil federal immigration.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
