Lip Service Disguised as Leadership
A protester at the May 13th rally outside Worcester City Hall holds a satirical sign showing Worcester City Manager in an ICE uniform.
On May 8, Worcester residents witnessed what can only be described as a breakdown of constitutional order. Federal agents -- who refused to identify themselves -- made detentions on Eureka Street without judicial warrants, probable cause, or transparency. During his State of the City address, City Manager Eric Batista acted like he was leading us through this crisis. What we heard was not leadership. It was lip service.
Batista's speech, like his most recent executive order, was performative -- repackaging the status quo as reform. His proposed “new” policies do little to prevent another unconstitutional and dangerous escalation by ICE. This failure of leadership puts Worcester’s civilians and police officers in real danger.
The central demands of the Eureka Street protesters remain clear:
All law enforcement officers and federal agents must identify themselves.
Federal officers must present judicial warrants, signed by a judge, to detain or arrest anyone.
Officers must be able to verify the identity of those they are detaining.
Worcester Police must ensure these conditions are met -- or risk becoming accessories to unlawful kidnappings.
Worcester Police must communicate the legal basis of any federal action to the public -- including names, warrants, and charges.
None of these concerns have been addressed by the Worcester Police Department or by City Manager Batista.
These demands aren’t radical -- they’re constitutional:
Payton v. New York (1980): Law enforcement, including ICE, may not enter homes without a warrant signed by a judge, absent exigent circumstances.
Administrative warrants (I-200s) are not judicial warrants. They are forms signed by ICE agents themselves -- not by a judge or neutral court.
Refusing to identify oneself violates the transparency policies of ICE, DHS, and most federal law enforcement agencies. Anonymous policing undermines accountability and facilitates abuse.
Batista isn’t the only one failing us. Governor Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell also have the authority to intervene -- and they haven’t. There is nothing stopping local or state police from asking basic legal questions:
What is your name? What are you doing here? Do you have the legal authority to do it?
Instead, our local officials appear comfortable with the idea that our police officers can stand back and allow crimes to unfold on our streets.
To make matters worse, there is ample evidence -- probable cause -- that these ICE agents are violating both the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of our community members.
No one -- not federal agents, not police -- has the authority to detain or arrest someone without a warrant or probable cause. That’s not just a principle -- it’s settled law. And ICE has no authority to enter homes or vehicles without a judicial warrant -- and yet they are breaking into vehicles on a regular basis, right here in the Commonwealth.
ICE agents routinely claim that administrative warrants grant them this authority. But an administrative warrant is just a form -- often typed up by the agent themselves. It is not probable cause. Full stop. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t disappear because an ICE agent signs off on their own paperwork. The “probable cause” being used in many of these cases? It’s often skin color, language, or national origin. That is unacceptable in a democratic society.
We also have probable cause that ICE is violating people’s Fifth Amendment rights. Many ICE detainees -- including U.S. citizens, legal residents, and asylum seekers -- are being denied due process, held in indefinite detention, and subjected to cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. Some are being sent to offshore detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, El Salvador, and now possibly Libya -- a practice documented by human rights organizations and journalists. We know this is happening. And when local officials knowingly allow ICE to operate in this way, they are morally complicit.
There is urgency, inevitability, that is driving this crisis. ICE will be back and the people of Massachusetts -- and Worcester in particular -- will no longer sit idly by while ICE violates the Constitution. Our communities are under siege. Whether you agree with the protesters or not, actions like those taken on Eureka Street will become more common. And the more organized this movement becomes, the larger those crowds will grow. This is not just unsafe for civilians -- it’s unsafe for police officers too. I’ve managed teams in difficult situations. I would never send my people into a chaotic situation without a clear plan. Batista’s approach -- cosmetic change with no substance -- is a blueprint for catastrophic failure.
But it’s not hopeless. Worcester’s police officers are our neighbors. No one wants conflict. No one wants to see more scenes like May 8.
What we do want is accountability. Instead, Batista gives us lip service. He seems to think that if he says the right words, activists will quiet down, federal officials won’t complain, and no one will hold him to account. He’s done it before, and it’s worked -- until now. But this time, it won’t. We will not let him wriggle off the hook.
That’s why we must pressure City Council to pressure Batista -- and if they won’t, we will hold them accountable at the ballot box.
The State of the City address saddened me. Protesters heckled Batista -- not because they enjoy disruption, but because they have been ignored. This is a problem created by Batista and City Council. They’ve shut down debate, avoided facing constituents, and -- most recently -- moved the Council meeting online to avoid dealing with their own citizens in person. They even cited “safety concerns” to justify it -- reinforcing the false narrative that peaceful, pro-democracy protesters are a threat.
Worcester’s residents deserve answers -- not evasions. We demand that the City Council hold Batista accountable, and that Governor Healey and Attorney General Campbell enforce the Constitution. If they continue to fail, the people of Worcester will act -- at the ballot box, in the streets, and in the courts.
This fight is far from over. And we are not backing down.
