The parent organization of the Luce ICE Hotline connected to Governor Maura Healey spent $7729 in dark money to support Etel Haxhiaj’s failed re-election bid last year after the former Worcester City Councilor allegedly attempted to block ICE from effecting an arrest in May 2025.

Neighbor to Neighbor supported Haxhiaj’s campaign with boots on the ground canvassing support, communications assistance, flyers and mailers. Five different Neighbor to Neighbor staffers were involved including the executive director and the finance director.

Haxhiaj lost by five points in November and faces trial next month in Worcester District court on charges related to the civil unrest largely believed to be organized by the Luce ICE Hotline as ICE attempted to make an arrest on an otherwise quiet Worcester side street.

The Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts Education Fund acts as the parent NGO for the Luce ICE Hotline and collects the donations raised on behalf of the hotline.

The largest single expenditure from N2N in support of Haxhiaj was for a late October mailer done by Thriftco Printing in Peabody for $3,236.01.

Haxhiaj spent nearly eighteen thousand dollars from her official campaign account in 2025.

The legal independent campaign expenditures were made from the Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts Action Fund, a 501c4 non-profit and sister organization to the Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts Education Fund a 501c3 charity.

As a 501c4 the Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts Action Fund is not required to disclosure its donors leaving unclear who exactly funded the expenditures.

Dalida Rocha, a Maura Healey appointee to the State Board of Education is the Executive Director of both the Neighbor to Neighbor Action Fund and the Neighbor to Neighbor Education Fund. Rocha who spoke at the anti-ICE rally on Boston City Hall earlier this month stood by Haxhiaj’s side at the time of the Eureka Street incident (see photo below).

Rocha also serves on Healey’s Energy Transformation Advisory Board. J. Miles Gresham, a N2N staffer, who provided “canvassing support” for Haxhiaj serves on Healey’s Environmental Justice Council.

In a statement at the time, Worcester Police described the Eureka Street crowd as “unruly, and several people were putting their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers in an attempt to keep the vehicle and the arrestee from leaving.”

According to OCPF: “Massachusetts campaign finance law requires the disclosure of expenditures of more than $250 in support of or in opposition to candidates that are made independent of any political committee. There is no statutory limit on such expenditures.”

SEIU 509 also spent $998 in independent expenditure support for Haxhiaj. Rocha previously worked for SEIU 32BJ.