In a democracy, our laws and law enforcement are meant to protect the vulnerable, not punish those who stand in defense of their neighbors. This basic principle is under threat when elected officials like former Worcester City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj face criminal charges for actions taken in solidarity with immigrant families resisting abusive and unlawful immigration enforcement. Ms. Haxhiaj’s prosecution stems from a May 8, 2025, encounter with ICE agents on Eureka Street in Worcester, where an innocent mother and her teenage daughter were assaulted and arrested and community members rallied in support of the family. It was among the first spontaneous anti-ICE community protests in the country.
Anyone who has watched the many videos on social media of the Eureka Street incident can plainly see that Ms. Haxhiaj was attempting to de-escalate a volatile situation and posed no threat to anyone; she was acting as a visible public official trying to prevent harm, not provoke it.
Across the country in the past year, other elected leaders have faced retaliation for courageously calling out ICE misconduct and authoritarian tactics. In Newark, Rep. LaMonica McIver and Mayor Ras Baraka were charged after conducting an oversight visit to a detention facility and questioning federal agents’ actions. In California, Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed and handcuffed while attempting to question the Secretary of Homeland Security about immigration enforcement abuses. These incidents are not isolated. They point to a dangerous pattern in which those who demand accountability are treated as criminals.
This pattern became even more chilling this past week with the killing of Alex Pretti, an American citizen whose death during an ICE operation has raised urgent questions about excessive force and lack of oversight. The message implicit in these prosecutions is that ordinary Americans — and even elected officials — are expected to remain silent and passive in the face of brutal and unlawful actions by federal authorities.
That is not how a democracy survives. We cannot normalize a system where neighbors are torn from their communities and those who intervene peacefully are prosecuted.
The charges against Etel Haxhiaj should be dropped, not as a concession to lawlessness, but as an affirmation of our most basic democratic values: that community protection is not a crime, that civic courage matters, and that the rule of law applies to federal agencies as much as to the people they police.
Etel stood up for justice. Now justice must stand up for her.
Miriam DeFant lives in Shutesbury.