Less than three months after being convicted of assaulting a Worcester police officer during a chaotic immigration protest on Eureka Street, former District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj is set to receive a local peace award recognizing her advocacy for immigrant communities.
Haxhiaj and Jillian Phillips, director of Worcester’s Office of New Americans, receives the 2025 Peacemaker Award from the Center for Nonviolent Solutions during the organization’s annual meeting Tuesday evening at the Worcester Public Library.
The small Worcester nonprofit said the two women are being honored for what it described as “persistent and courageous advocacy on behalf of Worcester’s immigrant communities.”
The award arrives amid continued debate in Worcester over last year’s immigration enforcement operation on Eureka Street— an incident that sparked protests, drew national media attention and deepened divisions over policing, immigration enforcement and political activism in the city.
Haxhiaj, who lost her reelection bid in November, was convicted in February of assault and battery on a police officer following a jury trial in Worcester District Court. Prosecutors alleged she shoved Worcester Police Officer Shauna McGuirk during the May 8, 2025, immigration protest as officers responded to crowd-control concerns during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation.
She was sentenced to six months of administrative probation and 40 hours of community service. A jury found her not guilty of interfering with police.
According to GBH News, Haxhiaj testified during the trial that she had been defending constituents during the incident and did not intend to touch the officer. Following the verdict, she said in a statement that she had “publicly challenged systems of power that sustain each other and hold police behavior to a different standard.”
The Eureka Street operation became one of the defining political flashpoints of Haxhiaj’s time on the council. Video from the scene showed residents, activists and elected officials confronting federal agents as they detained a Brazilian woman in front of family members, including a young child.
The incident later prompted City Manager Eric Batista to issue an executive order reaffirming that Worcester police would not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement operations.
In announcing the award, Center for Nonviolent Solutions Program Director Claire Schaeffer-Duffy said in a release that the organization wanted to recognize advocates supporting immigrants “at a time when immigrants around the country are being subjected to violent raids and violation of their rights.”
“As community organizer, Jillian has advocated tirelessly for immigrants while Etel has embodied the courageous compassion needed to counter their dehumanization,” Schaeffer-Duffy said in the release.
Phillips has led Worcester’s Office of New Americans at Friendly House, which works with immigrant and refugee communities on issues including language access, civic participation and public services.
The annual meeting and award ceremony will run from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Saxe Room at the Worcester Public Library. The program also includes a poetry reading by Worcester Youth Poet Laureate Adael Mejia, also known as Ace the Space GXd.
The Center for Nonviolent Solutions describes its mission as building “a culture of peace in Worcester and beyond.”
