FITCHBURG—Dozens lit candles outside City Hall on Saturday night, chanting “protect our neighbors” as they rallied around the woman ICE says stabbed a coworker with a pair of scissors. It was billed as a compassion vigil. But the case at the center of all the emotional speeches isn’t a missing-paperwork story—it’s a violent workplace assault.

Organizers leaned hard into outrage. They urged supporters to film immigration encounters and described the arrest as “traumatic” and “dangerous.” They waved signs and delivered teary lines for the cameras, insisting federal agents went too far.

ICE says the reality is straightforward. According to federal officials, Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya attacked a coworker with scissors, hurled a trash bin and fled. An arrest warrant followed. Agents located her during a traffic stop, and video shows them taking her into custody as her husband and toddler stood nearby. ICE maintains they carried out a lawful arrest of a wanted suspect tied to a violent offense.

The husband, Carlos Zapata, became a central figure at the vigil. He told supporters, “I wasn’t letting go of my wife because they wanted to take her away.” He later added, “I never meant to let go of my wife… I didn’t want them to take her. But when they did that to me, I lost consciousness.” In the viral footage, he appears to slump over inside the car as agents move in—a moment supporters described as a seizure. DHS officials reviewing the video later dismissed the collapse as “fake,” a blunt assessment that only fueled tensions. Viewers also noticed what looked like a small child in the front of the car without a car seat as the chaos unfolded.

Local politicians amplified the drama. One city councilor blasted ICE from the rally itself, accusing agents of endangering families and urging residents to “document every encounter.” The speeches landed well with the crowd but did little to address the allegation at the heart of the case.

Mayor Sam Squailia wasn’t on the steps Saturday night, but she jumped into the fray afterward, echoing the criticism and condemning “unannounced federal actions.” Her statement added political heat to an already emotional scene.

In the end, the divide was clear. On one side, a crowd eager to cast ICE as the villain. On the other, federal officials pointing back to the scissors, the injured coworker and the arrest warrant. At Fitchburg’s candlelit rally, sympathy took center stage—but the violent accusation that brought agents to the city never changed.