Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the ongoing struggle against it here.
On September 4, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broke into snack food manufacturer Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato, New York, detaining 57 workers. ICE agents initially approached the owner of the plant and stated they were only there for one “violent felon”, claiming they would be out of the plant quickly. The ICE agents then proceeded to forcibly enter the plant using crowbars. One worker speaking with monopoly news outlet Associated Press reported the agents corralled workers into a break room and asked for proof they were in the country legally. In footage and photos, workers can be seen being escorted out of the building by ICE and put into vans.
The raid was carried out the same day as the massive ICE raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, where agents abducted 475 workers.
Immigrant advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry stated most of the workers detained were from Guatemala. Speaking anonymously to local monopoly outlet NBC New York, one worker reported, “Some of the women started to cry because their kids were at school or at day care. It was very sad to see.”
The following day, dozens of protesters gathered outside the Oswego County Border Patrol Station where it was believed some of the workers were detained, with signs reading, “Oswego against kidnapping,” and “ICE melts under resistance.”
Protesters in Rochester Drive Off ICE Agents
Days later, on September 9, protesters successfully forced ICE agents to retreat after attempting to detain roofers working on a private residence in Rochester, NY. Federal agents managed to arrest one of the roofers, while two others fled up to the top of the house they were working on and refused to come down. Residents in the neighborhood alerted a local rapid response network to ICE’s presence. Within an hour, hundreds of people mobilized to the residence in defense of the workers.
The workers stood their ground as protesters confronted masked agents and demanded they leave. The standoff lasted about four hours, ending with ICE agents retreating and leaving the scene after becoming increasingly outnumbered. The Border Patrol SUV the agents arrived in left with all four tires slashed. As they fled, the crowd cheered and chanted, “shame!” and “Gestapo!”
Regarding the worker who was abducted, one protester told Rochester Beacon that ICE “took one guy who had a permit, he’s been working here for 25 years, he’s got a baby on the way, [and] never had any legal issues whatsoever.”
Photo: Border Patrol SUV with four flat tires is towed away after protesters confronted ICE agents during a raid in Rochester, NY.
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