The Northwestern DA’s office successfully convicted Etel Haxhiaj, a rapid responder to a Worcester ICE raid, of assault on a police officer. Haxhiaj declined a plea offer that would have required her to sign an apology letter. “I chose the truth,” she said. @billshaner.bsky.social reports:

WPD’s position is they don’t collaborate with ICE. 👇

The lieutenant who applied for criminal charges against me, explicitly offered ICE agent to press charges on their behalf against me for “punching” and “assaulting” ICE agents. His police report stated that I “punched” an ICE agent.

“Several jurors refused to convict any of the Stanford Palestine solidarity protesters who occupied administrators' offices in June 2024, barricading themselves inside for several hours to protest the genocide.” apnews.com/article/stan...

Culture is never innocuous; it is consequential. I think of the ways people understand that our law and order system is unjust, but cop for copaganda. You cannot separate how the system perpetuates violence against the innocent, especially Black and Brown people, and the culture that holds it up

This all went down in #mapoli, Worcester to be exact where the stories of police corruption and abuse deserve more attention

For local elected officials who are trying to understand how this trial connects to the national issues- this statement from the Trump administration makes it pretty clear that they know the actions of the WPD and silence of city leaders aids their work.

Thank you immensely @andrewjmarsh.bsky.social for this powerful beautiful analysis in @billshaner.bsky.social’s Worcester Sucks. ❤️ www.worcestersucks.email/p/criminaliz...

100%. Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira came into the United States as an asylum seeker. Won her asylum case and was NOT the subject of DHS's abduction. They used her daughters and the infant to lure her, violentely and unlawfully detain her and spread lies about her.

I’ll keep protecting my neighbors, until state sanctioned violence & kidnapping of immigrants ends. Local police aren’t exempt from the constitution.

The ADA argued condescendingly that I would rehabilitate myself w/community service so something good would come of this. The way men speak to women they know they could never measure up to.

Major thanks to @andrewqmr.bsky.social who meticulously reported live all two days! It was such a pleasure to meet you!!!

Major props to @billshaner.bsky.social for spending two days in court documenting the trial, the details and for also just being an outstanding G as my young son called him when Bill lent Danny a charger. We are fortunate to have Bill’s outstanding work & analysis.

I will be taking the stand this morning. Our community was and always will be on the right side of history and on the right side of love. Thank you to everyone who packed the court yesterday.

@maddow.bsky.social we are heading to trial to fight these charges, 9 months later.

Also, thank you Worcester Indivisible for organizing! @maddow.bsky.social I hope you will follow this case. You amplified it back in May 8, 2025.

Systems protect systems. I will have so much to say post Tuesday’s trial.

Thank you @billshaner.bsky.social for your reporting on this. Prosecuting mothers protecting mothers isn't justice. Read the full article here: theshoestring.org/2026/02/03/n... Trials begin next Tues, Feb 10th at the Worcester District Court, Room 23, 8:30 am.

HELL YES! www.reuters.com/world/us-jud...

February 10th. Please help spread this among your networks. Pack the courtroom on the day Ashley Spring & I face a jury trial. @prisonculture.bsky.social can you help us amplify this flier? ❤️

Not long ago this Governor blamed migrants for our homelessness crisis.

A real leader would promise to protect her community from ICE. She would say unequivocally that it's wrong for cops to shoot and tear gas her constituents and that she won't permit it to happen in her state. But this is the best we've gotten from Healey so far. www.nbcboston.com/news/local/r...

Healey has offered some mealy-mouthed criticisms of ICE, but she fundamentally agrees that we should have fewer migrants in the country. She praised Trump's border crackdown and said she wanted to take it even further by completely shutting down the border. andrewqmr.substack.com/p/maura-heal...

Once again. Stop validating Trumps border policies & “Fixing ICE”. Not long ago border patrol on horseback were whipping Hatians at the border, like slave catchers did. It’s what they are. Anything short of terminating 287(g) agreement w/ DOC & ending detentions is performative.

Absolutely gross.

I deeply appreciate @suemailman.bsky.social . She's always stood by what's right, challenged those in power & advocated for the truth. Sue didn't have to do this- yet here she is speaking her heart. Unlike many who've chosen silence. www.facebook.com/share/p/1Cwz...

‼️The Human Rights Commission recommends Chair Creamer’s motion that the City establish a Civilian Review Board and initiate a formal process to do so.‼️ 👉Vote: 5-1 in favor. Fr. Jonathan Slavinskas votes against. 👉This is a great step forward and hopefully provides community momentum.

Immigrant families are organizing and fighting back inside detention camps. What are you prepared to do? apnews.com/article/texa...

They killed a woman & called her a fucking bitch. Then, they killed a man for protecting a woman they likely wanted to murder and call her a fucking bitch, too.

There were over 500 community and unions this afternoon in Dorchester for the Rally in Solidarity with MN strike. About 20 of us from Worcester went in the Neighbor2Neighbor bus. I didn’t take pics bcs I was 100% focused in the energy of speakers: all impacted people. We gotta do more.

3 things give me a lot of hope rn: 1. Whistleblowers exposing these monsters. 2. Minneapolis residents not backing down from protecting their neighbors every chance they get. 3. My 14 yo old boy standing alone in front of his school doors yesterday holding an anti-ICE poster he made.

🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional! ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.

This is pure garbage.

So basically like we said before. Dems will throw immigrants under the bus, as ICE thugs kill, abuse and detain more Black & brown immigrants & refugees. migrantinsider.com/p/breaking-s...

The Carpenters and other construction unions are asking the Mayor and City Council to NOT give the Menkiti Group another tax break since they have shown no willingness to take Worcester's Responsible Development Ordinance seriously.

In October, Mayor Petty, City Councilors and State electeds signed the Responsible Development Pledge which included the call to take back some or all of TIF for the current project because of these "minor" citations.

The Menkiti Group has sought to minimize and dismiss everything that has happened calling the citations a minor infraction, but for the workers that were cheated out of $73,000+ wage theft is actually a very very big deal.

These aren't "allegations" as Councilor Bergman describes buy the results of months long investigations by the AGs Office. This was all after both the Carpenters and the City of Worcester had expressed to Menkiti the expectations behind Worcester's Responsible Development Ordinance.

This summer the Carpenters found the Menkiti Group had Barber Drywall working at the project at 204 Main St. This is a company the Carpenters have been tracking for a while which has received wage theft and other wage/hour citations from the Mass. Attorney General in 2024 and then AGAIN in 2025.

The Menkiti family has operated under 30+ LLC's in Mass., buying/selling properties in Worc. & Southbridge for 8yrs. They are speculators w/ a good PR machine. In Worcester, in addition to Main St. properties they own/ed apt bldgs on Chandler (Vendome), Allen St, Charlton, Beacon & Cambridge Sts.

In addition to the Main St. Project, Menkiti Group is looking to get a THIRD TIF to build two apartment buildings on top of the Denholm building site.

I bet you the seven businesses owned by the Menkiti family that got shut down for 3 weeks+would appreciate a tax break, and probably have something to say about these developers. www.telegram.com/story/news/l...

THEY HAVE OWNED this project since 2018. Giving them a TIF/TIE is NOT attracting NEW investment . We should not be giving taxpayer dollars to developers that have bought something 7 years ago and just sat on it. It has been proposed re but we still do not give TIFs to local small businesses.

We're asking folks to come out and also to speak to City Councilors asking them to oppose giving the Menkiti Group any more TIFs. They are currently asking for a TIE (market rate housing TIF) to renovate 401-409 Main St.

Over 100 Worcester folks showed up today for the MLK Day of Action. We canvassed businesses across the City to build awareness around the LUCE Hotline number. The Worcester LUCE hub has been steadily working to build in #s & power. We’ll keep building.