ICE protestors escorted out by authorities after interrupting Worcester State of the City address
A handful of protestors were escorted out of the Jean McDonough Arts Center for interrupting city manager Eric D. Batista's State of the City Address Wednesday night.
Roughly a dozen in the crowd loudly criticized Batista while he initially addressed the events of May 8th and the recent release of police body cam footage.
'I'm asking that we listen to each other and treat each other with respect,' said Batista through yells from the crowd. '
Worcester Police responded to Eureka Street on May 8th after ICE agents were surrounded by residents during a detainment.
Batista added, 'We cannot go back and change what happened. But, we can learn from it and come together... Whether we like it or not, Worcester does not exist in its own bubble. The events of May 8th made that clear.'
On Friday, his office released the body cam footage and also issued an executive order clarifying the involvement of city resources with federal operations.
The executive order states that city police and resources will not go towards federal operations, and promised police will assist anyone in Worcester regardless of immigration status.
Signs and shouts rained down on the city manager during his address.
About four in the crowd were escorted out by police for the disruption. One was led out by the police.
'ICE off our streets,' chanted protesters inside the theater.
About a dozen protesters outside on Franklin Street chanted, 'Worcester PD's not our friend.'
Those removed from the theater waited for Batista outside, but their questions weren't answered as he was escorted away.
'ICE out of Worcester now,' David Webb yelled at the city manager, leaving on Wednesday. Webb was escorted out of the address by police moments before.
He finished, 'He is not a person from Worcester anymore.'
During the speech, Batista acknowledged the challenges the city faces – but emphasized it's a time for unity and a collective effort to safeguard the city.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
35 minutes ago
- USA Today
Kristi Noem said undocumented immigrant sent Trump death threat. Police say he was framed.
Kristi Noem said undocumented immigrant sent Trump death threat. Police say he was framed. Milwaukee police quickly suspected a man arrested by ICE was framed in Trump death threat. Then DHS Secretary Kristi Noem accused him of the crime. Show Caption Hide Caption Community rallies against ICE raids after high school student detained Communities in California and Massachusetts protested recent ICE raids that resulted in arrests of restaurant workers and a high school student. A suspect awaiting trial on robbery and battery charges in Wisconsin had a brazen idea to get off scot free: Get rid of his victim, the main witness in his case, by persuading authorities to deport him. So Demetric D. Scott, pretending to be the victim, wrote a series of letters to state and federal officials threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump, prosecutors say. The letters had the return address and name of the victim, Ramón Morales-Reyes, and noted he would "self-deport" after killing the president. The Department of Homeland Security took the bait. One day after receiving the letter, immigration agents arrested Morales-Reyes, 54, after he dropped his daughter off at school in Milwaukee. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem soon blasted out news of the arrest, noting in a press release that a dangerous threat from an undocumented individual had been removed. 'Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,' Noem said. But the story quickly began to fall apart. Morales-Reyes' attorney and family said he cannot speak or write in English. Within days, Scott admitted his ruse and police searched his cell and found a pen and an envelope containing the Milwaukee ICE office's address and phone number. Scott was charged June 2 with felony witness intimidation, identity theft and two counts of bail jumping. His attorney, Robert Hampton III, declined to comment to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. But the man he framed is still in federal custody, due to appear at an immigration hearing June 4. And Noem and DHS have yet to retract their false allegations he was behind the threat to kill Trump. As of June 4, Noem's original statement remained online without any correction or additional information. The agency has said he is in the country illegally and has a criminal record so will remain in custody. Morales-Reyes' deportation defense lawyer Cain Oulahan has said he is trying to find ways for Morales-Reyes to receive any form of immigration relief to be protected from deportation while his case is pending. How investigators unearthed the plot to frame Ramón Morales-Reyes Authorities sussed out Scott's scheme in part by listening to calls he made while in jail, court records show. "This dude is a (expletive) illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his (expletive) up," according to a call recording linked to Scott's jail inmate ID that is cited in the complaint. The man later added on the same call: "And the judge will agree cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won't be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day. That's my plan." On May 22, the day Morales-Reyes was arrested and six days before DHS sent out it's press release, Milwaukee Detective Timothy Keller, who is assigned to the FBI-Milwaukee Joint Task Force, interviewed Morales-Reyes. He learns Morales-Reyes cannot read, write, or fluently speak English. He also notices Morales-Reyes' handwriting is "completely different" from what is on the letters. Keller asks Morales-Reyes who might want to get him in trouble. Morales-Reyes tells him the only person he can think of is Scott. Undocumented crime victim applied for U-visa but could still be deported Morales-Reyes' attorney Kime Abduli described her client as humble, soft-spoken and hard-working. She said he has three children who are U.S. citizens. 'I'm just glad that they have identified who it was or have a better sense of who it was,' said . 'And that Ramon is being cleared of any involvement in this.' Morales-Reyes is in the process of applying for a U-visa, a visa that allows undocumented victims and witnesses of certain crimes to stay in the U.S. for up to four years if they help with the investigation. He applied for the visa as a victim and witness of a robbery Scott is accused of. According to Abduli, his application was delivered to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over a month ago, and no receipt has been issued by the agency yet. Abduli said this is not uncommon. Due to the significant backlog of cases, it takes about two months to get a receipt and at least seven to eight years to receive the visa. In the meantime, a pending application would not protect Morales-Reyes from deportation. Calls for Kristi Noem and DHS to retract statement about Morales-Reyes Since DHS issued its statement, Morales-Reyes' family has received numerous death threats, according to his lawyers and immigrant advocacy organization Voces de la Frontera. At a news conference May 30, the organization's executive director, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, urged DHS to issue a correction to clear his name. "Every minute that passes without the DHS issuing a correction to the serious allegation represents a real threat and danger to the family," Neumann-Ortiz said. On May 29, DHS said the investigation into the threat against Trump was ongoing and that Morales-Reyes would remain in custody, given his undocumented status and record. Publicly available documents show Morales-Reyes is connected to a hit-and-run incident and an incident of disorderly conduct and property damage related to domestic abuse in 1996. Based on the documents, he received a non-criminal conviction for the disorderly conduct charge, which is usually a ticket. The other charges were dismissed or not prosecuted. What was the robbery case against Scott? The trial Scott was trying to avoid had already gone to trial once, in January 2024 but a judge declared a mistrial when the jury could not reach a decision. A new trial date was set for July 14. The case revolved around a bicycle. On Sept. 26, 2023, Morales-Reyes was riding a bicycle his wife had purchased a few weeks earlier, getting some exercise to help with his diabetes, when a man approached him and started shouting, he said in court. The man attacked Morales-Reyes with a corkscrew and cut him under his left armpit, an altercation captured on a neighbor's Ring doorbell camera. When police arrived, an officer interviewed Morales-Reyes in Spanish, getting a description of the suspect. Police arrested Scott within hours and he was charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, and second-degree recklessly endangering safety and bail jumping. Scott told police, and later a jury, that the bicycle was actually his and had been stolen days earlier. He said he was trying to get his property back and that Morales-Reyes had threatened him first, when they were out of view from the Ring doorbell. 'I told the truth,' Scott later said in court. 'I told him that I accidentally cut him.' At the time of his arrest, Scott had an open warrant for skipping court in a burglary case. He was charged with breaking into his mother's apartment building and stealing a ladder and other items. He was booked into Milwaukee County Jail on Sept. 26, 2023, and has remained there since on $10,000 bail. A list of past convictions Scott has past criminal convictions that date back to 2000 including battery, disorderly conduct and third-degree sexual assault. In 2010, Scott was charged with felony murder in the death of Steve Allen, according to previous Journal Sentinel reporting. Scott was seen punching and kicking Allen, who was lying on the pavement while demanding the return of property, the Journal Sentinel reported. Allen died two days later. Online court records show Scott was convicted of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in that case and sentenced to five years in prison and five years on extended supervision.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man Robbed Mexican Immigrant, then Wrote Fake Trump Threats in His Name So He'd Be Deported Before Testifying: Prosecutors
A Milwaukee man allegedly confessed to framing a Mexican immigrant by writing fake death threats in his name against President Donald Trump and members of ICE. Demetric Deshawn Scott, who will soon go on trial in an armed robbery case, is accused of trying to get trial witness Ramón Morales Reyes deported so that he wouldn't be able to testify. Police listened in on multiple jail calls in which Scott allegedly detailed his plan to sabotage the trial, including enlisting his mother to mail the threatening letters from her home.A Wisconsin defendant faked assassination threats against President Donald Trump in order to get the star witness in his criminal trial deported, prosecutors claim. Demetric Deshawn Scott was charged with identity theft, bail jumping and felony intimidation of a witness in a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Monday, June 2, and obtained by The Washington Post. Scott, 52, is accused of writing several letters to U.S. officials under someone else's name that threatened the lives of Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying things like, 'I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him.' One letter allegedly reads, "I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in his head. I will see him at one of his big ralleys." Another allegedly reads, 'My family is with the Mexican Mafia how would you like it if we use a bomb to blow up the white house while your precious president is still inside... Somone [sic] need to blow this entire country up like 911 in New York. Can't you white understand we are tired of running its time to kill ICE Agents or be killed.' In the complaint against Scott, prosecutors allege that he wrote the letters in order to impersonate and frame Ramón Morales Reyes, 54, who is set to testify against him in a case of armed robbery and aggravated battery in July. Scott's plan, the complaint alleges — citing multiple calls made from the Milwaukee County Jail using Scott's inmate ID number — was to get Reyes deported before he could testify against him by getting the Trump administration's attention. 'This dude is a goddamn illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his ass up,' Scott allegedly said, according to one call transcript. 'I'm dead serious, 'cause I got jury trial on July 15. I got final pretrial on June 16, so if he is apprehended by the 16th, we can go into court and say, 'Hey, he's in custody now. There is no reason for us to even continue the July 15 jury date.' And the judge will agree cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won't be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day. That's my plan.' In other calls made to his mother, Arnita Scott, the defendant allegedly tells her that he's mailed her letters in a manila envelope, and asks her to drop them in the mailbox for him. The complaint alleges that Scott's mother later confirmed to police that she had mailed letters for her son, but said she didn't know what was in them. The mailed assassination threats succeeded in catching the attention of the Trump administration, which has reportedly given ICE orders to arrest 3,000 immigrants each day. Morales Reyes was apprehended by ICE officials on May 22, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described him at the time as an 'illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump.' However, the complaint explains that Milwaukee investigators quickly realized Morales Reyes does not read, write or fluently speak English. They also tested his handwriting against the threatening letters and found it to be 'completely different.' According to the complaint, Scott was then interviewed by a police detective on May 30, in which he allegedly confessed to writing the letters and said his goal was 'freedom.' Authorities also searched his jail cell and allegedly discovered the blue pen used to write the letters as well as contact information for the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office and the Milwaukee ICE office, both recipients of the forged threats. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer. Despite Scott's alleged confession, Morales Reyes remained in ICE custody and is expected to appear before an immigration judge on June 4. In an email to The Associated Press, Morales Reyes' attorney, Cain Oulahan, said he is exploring all legal avenues to get his client released. 'While he has a U visa pending, those are unfortunately backlogged for years, so we will be looking at other options to keep him here with his family, which includes his three U.S. citizen children,' Oulahan wrote. On Tuesday, June 3, the Department of Homeland Security told The Washington Post in an emailed statement, 'The investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.' The City of Milwaukee Common Council released a joint statement, written in both English and Spanish, from all 15 of its members on May 30, in which they condemned the DHS detention of Morales Reyes. 'The Department of Homeland Security's top priority should be protecting the people of this country. In this instance, they did the exact opposite,' the statement read. 'Their quick-triggered incorrect statement caused a man and his family to receive death threats and for him to be detained for something he did not do, while further fueling the anti-immigrant sentiment being pushed at the national level. All things that undermine what should be the department's chief priority of promoting public safety.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Police quickly suspected a man detained by ICE was framed for Trump death threat. Then Kristi Noem accused him of the crime.
Within a day of Ramón Morales-Reyes' arrest, investigators had concluded he almost certainly was not the person responsible for writing a letter threatening to shoot President Donald Trump. But that did nothing to prevent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from touting his arrest, releasing his photo and sharing a copy of the handwritten letter on social media six days later. The arrest of Morales-Reyes, a 54-year-old Mexican immigrant living in Milwaukee, sparked intense scrutiny from the start. He was arrested after dropping off his daughter at school, once considered a sensitive location where immigration arrests should be avoided under earlier administrations. The Trump administration reversed that guidance in January. After Noem issued the news release, Morales-Reyes' attorneys and family said it was impossible for him to have penned the letter, given his lack of proficiency writing in either English or Spanish. On June 2, Milwaukee County prosecutors charged someone else with sending the letters. The suspect, Demetric Scott, confessed to forging the letters in the hopes Morales-Reyes would be deported and unavailable to testify against him in a separate robbery case, according to a criminal complaint. As of June 4, Noem's original statement that described Morales-Reyes as an "illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump" remained online without any correction or additional information. Here is a timeline of how the case unfolded, based on court records, and what is coming next: Morales-Reyes tells police he was riding his bicycle on the city's south side when a man approached him and started shouting. He pedaled faster to get away but the man caught up to him and attacked him with a corkscrew, cutting him under his left armpit. Morales-Reyes described the suspect to police, and officers arrest Demetric Scott in the same area hours later. Scott is charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, and bail jumping. He also had an open warrant for skipping court in a burglary case from 2022. His bail is set at $10,000. During a jury trial, Morales-Reyes testifies and identifies Scott as the man who robbed and assaulted him. Much of the attack was captured on a nearby Ring doorbell camera. Scott later testifies in his defense, saying the bicycle was his and had been stolen days earlier. He also says Morales-Reyes threatened him while they were out of view of the Ring camera. Morales-Reyes denied ever hitting or kicking Scott, telling the prosecutor: "I never wanted to. I never hurt him." The jury is not able to reach a decision. The court orders a mistrial and scheduled a new trial. Scott starts to make calls from the jail to ask people to mail letters on his behalf. The calls are recorded, which is routine in prisons and jails. Investigators did not review the calls until after Morales-Reyes' immigration arrest. An ICE field intelligence officer receives a handwritten letter in English threatening to assassinate Trump. Morales-Reyes' name and address are on the envelope. The Wisconsin Attorney General's Office and the Milwaukee Police Department receive similar letters. Immigration agents arrest Morales-Reyes and take him to Dodge Detention Facility in Juneau. Milwaukee detective Timothy Keller, who is assigned to the FBI-Milwaukee Joint Task Force, interviews Morales-Reyes. He learns Morales-Reyes cannot read, write, or fluently speak English. He also notices Morales-Reyes' handwriting is "completely different" from what is on the letters. Keller asks Morales-Reyes who might want to get him in trouble. Morales-Reyes tells him the only person he can think of is Scott, the person he would be testifying against in an upcoming trial scheduled for July 14. Immigration attorney Kime Abduli tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Morales-Reyes has been in the U.S. for at least 25 years and had recently applied for a U-visa. U-visas allow undocumented victims of certain crimes to stay in the U.S. for up to four years if they agree to help law enforcement in the investigation of the crime. Noem, the DHS secretary, issues a statement accusing Morales-Reyes of writing the letter and threatening Trump. She shares his photo and a copy of the letter. Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Susan Roth signs off on a warrant for investigators to search Scott's jail cell. Morales-Reyes' attorneys and family say it was impossible for him to have penned the letter, given his lack of proficiency writing in either English or Spanish. They say since the DHS news release, his family has received death threats. The Journal Sentinel asks DHS why the agency believes the letter was sent from Morales-Reyes. In response, a DHS senior official said it was an ongoing investigation. "Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record," the official said in an email. "He will remain in custody." According to the DHS statement, Morales Reyes entered the U.S. without authorization 'at least nine times' between 1998 and 2005, and had prior arrests for felony hit-and-run, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier. Publicly available records in Wisconsin connect a man named Ramon Morales Reyes to two incidents in 1996, one where he was accused of a hit-and-run and another where he was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, related to domestic violence. Based on available records, prosecutors did not charge the alleged hit-and-run and dismissed the criminal damage charge. The disorderly conduct charge resulted in a non-criminal conviction, which usually refers to a ticket. Keller, the detective, interviews Scott. Scott admits he wrote the letters and envelopes and that he did so to try to prevent Morales-Reyes from testifying, the complaint says. That same day, investigators search Scott's jail cell and find a blue pen, an envelope with ICE's contact information and a pink paper note stating that he needed the address for the attorney general's office. Attorneys and advocates for Morales-Reyes call for DHS to retract what they describe as a false allegation. "Every minute that passes without the DHS issuing a correction to the serious allegation represents a real threat and danger to the family," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera. Prosecutors charge Scott with identity theft, felony witness intimidation and two counts of felony bail jumping. The Journal Sentinel reached out to DHS again and in response, received the same statement the agency released on May 29. Morales-Reyes is scheduled to appear in immigration court in Chicago. The hearing is postponed until June 10. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kristi Noem said man sent Trump death threat. Police say he was framed
