Above photo: Ana Mendez of Rural & Migrant Ministry speaks at a press conference and rally on September 19 in Fulton, New York. Rural & Migrant Ministry.
After the ICE raid in Cato, New York, kids don’t know when they’ll see their parents again.
On the morning of September 4, dozens of masked federal agents raided a snack bar factory in the small town of Cato, New York. They claimed there was a “violent felon” in the plant, but proceeded to siphon off and hold anyone who looked Latinx. At least 69 workers were initially detained, with 57 still in custody or deported, though some say that could be an undercount. There are multiple reports of aggression — knees on necks, blows to heads — used during the raid.
The workers were mostly from Central America, especially Guatemala. Some had lived in the region for decades. Many are parents. Even those who presented valid working permits were taken. Sources tell Truthout that around a dozen workers have been deported while others linger in detention facilities across the U.S.
The raid in Cato has garnered national attention and shaken the immigrant community of central New York. While targeting and raids against immigrant workers and communities in the region are not new, some organizers told Truthout that the scale and the brazen racism, as well as the lack of transparency, on display in the Cato raid reflect an escalation in the federal government’s assault on immigrants in the state.
“I believe one goal of this operation was to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable,” Jessica Maxwell, executive director of the Workers Center of Central New York, told Truthout.
At the same time, the community is responding: holding rallies, ramping up efforts at family preparedness, raising funds for legal support, and reemphasizing the need for state legislation to prohibit local police from collaborating with federal immigration authorities.
“We hope this generates the opposite reaction of what federal officials wanted,” said Maxwell. “This might be a real turning point in communities coming together to say, ‘No, we’re not going to tolerate this anymore.’”
“The Backbone Of Our Economic Success”
Central New York is a region dotted with small post-industrial towns and agricultural fields. Syracuse is its main urban hub. The Finger Lakes are nearby. Small manufacturers and apple and dairy farms are key employers.
Immigrant workers, overwhelmingly Latinx, make up a chunk of the region’s labor force, especially on the farms. These workers, some of whom have lived in the area for decades, have planted roots and built communities. There are many mixed-status families.
“The immigrant community is the backbone of our economic success,” Kayla Kelechian, senior manager of organizing and strategy in central New York for the New York Immigration Coalition, told Truthout.
The small town of Cato is a 30-minute drive northwest from Syracuse. It’s home to the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant, which produces tens of millions of snack bars annually. The company is a big employer of immigrant workers, particularly from Central America.
News outlets reported that federal agents showed up on the morning of September 4 and told the owners that they had a search warrant for a “violent felon” in the plant, but what ensued was an hours-long raid that detained dozens of workers, many with valid work permits.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson told Truthout: “Any allegation that ICE did not have a criminal arrest warrant during the operation at Nutrition Bar Confectioners on September 4 is FALSE. This operation involved a criminal search warrant and is a part of an ongoing investigation.”
They added: “During the court authorized worksite enforcement operation at Nutrition Bar Confectioners, ICE arrested 57 illegal aliens. Some had prior criminal convictions or pending charges including child endangerment, DUI, and multiple illegal re-entries. The investigation is ongoing.”
“They Were There To Humiliate People”
Ana Mendez, the Western New York regional coordinator with Rural & Migrant Ministry, has close ties to the community. As the raid began, she received an influx of texts from friends and family members inside the plant and rushed to Cato to bear witness and offer support.
I asked Mendez what is not getting enough attention in the media coverage around the raid, and she was quick to reply: the aggression of the raid, and the way that federal agents dehumanized the workers they detained.
She said that federal agents brought dogs, ATVs and dune buggies to the plant, had marked and unmarked cars, and were all “very armed.” Officers were aggressively grabbing and zip-tying workers, Mendez said.
“They were there to humiliate people and strip away their dignity,” she said.
One worker who was deported later told Mendez that an agent wedged his knee on another worker’s neck. Mendez observed officers laughing during the raid. One worker was reportedly hit in the back of the head.
Maxwell told Truthout that workers with valid working papers were “bullied” by officers and told their papers were “fake.” The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that workers were told their work permits were “not enough.”
One Customs and Border Protection officer gloated: “We found their sanctuary.”
Maxwell added that many single mothers were detained, along with mothers who were still nursing small children. She said the scale of the raid is the biggest she’s seen in 10 years of organizing.
“It’s sending shockwaves through the community,” said Maxwell. “It feels like everyone is being targeted.”
The raid in Cato came the same day as ICE also conducted a mass raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, detaining nearly 500 workers, most of them from South Korea.
“A Lot Of These People Have Been Disappeared”
Mendez said the workers were taken to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Oswego Station nearby and then soon transferred to different detention facilities, from Buffalo and Niagara Falls to Texas and Louisiana.
“It was horrible news when we heard that people were already in Texas,” said Mendez. “We knew some of these people were going to be deported.”
The detention process was very disorganized, said Mendez, with peoples’ identities and personal data inaccurately logged by federal agents, creating difficulties for families and attorneys. Many were not allowed to gather personal belongings and received no legal representation. Maxwell said some people were transferred to as many as three different Customs and Border Patrol stations before landing in a detention center.
“A lot of these people have been disappeared,” said Mendez.
Federal agents wore masks during the raid and only presented an administrative rather than a criminal warrant. No “violent criminal” was found. Just five workers were charged with reentry.
Many workers who were detained had valid working papers or cases in progress and are married to U.S. citizens or have children who are citizens.
“None of that mattered,” said Mendez. “You never imagined these things, just the violation of human rights and due process.”
Organizers say around a dozen workers have been deported so far. Mendez has remained in touch with some of them.
“They’re Terrorizing Kids”
Locally, the raid’s biggest impacts have been on families. Parents and breadwinners have been detained and deported. Some extended families had multiple members who were taken.
“It’s a community-wide impact that has really shaken people’s sense of safety and security,” said Maxwell.
Maxwell says the raid has inflicted intense trauma on children who don’t know when they will see their parents again. Multiple students in the same school had family members taken. Some children fear going outside.
Kelechian says it “kills her” to tell families that she doesn’t know when they will see their loved ones again.
“They’re terrorizing kids,” said Kelechian. “What is the goal of taking all of these families and ripping them apart other than cruelty?”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an early statement that “parents of at least a dozen children” were detained. Maxwell told Truthout that at least 21 cases of people still being detained or deported involve separation from children. Three babies, a seven-month old and two 15-month olds, are still without their parents. She said least two pregnant people are still in detention.
Maxwell said some parents who are breastfeeding have been released.
Mendez also stressed the economic impact of the raid. “These families contribute money to the area,” she said. “It’s definitely going to hit hard, because this is a rural economy.”
“It’s About People’s Skin Color”
While raids are not wholly new to the region, the scale of the Cato raid feels “overwhelming,” says Maxwell.
“It feels like an invasion of our community and a huge overreach of federal authority,” she said.
During the raid, workers were sorted by race, with Latino workers targeted while white workers could leave. Federal agents have been emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could racially profile Latinx people in Los Angeles.
Multiple people told Truthout that county police have been collaborating with federal authorities and have escalated their surveillance and profiling people since Donald Trump was elected.
Maxwell says sheriff’s officers have been racially profiling people in Oswego County “for months” and “demanding that anybody who looks Latino prove their right to be here.” Kelechian said police are monitoring specific traffic routes to stop people and following them from grocery stores.
“The big shift since Trump took office is the county police forces taking this opportunity to ravage communities and racially profile,” she said.
“I’m a Brown woman, and I fear driving to Oswego,” said Kelechian. “It’s total racial profiling.”
The New York attorney general is currently pursuing a civil rights investigation into the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office over its immigration enforcement in cooperation with federal agencies amid accusations of racial profiling of Latinos;
In response to a request for comment, Lieutenant Andrew J. Bucher of the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office told Truthout that “[w]e are absolutely not racially profiling and any interaction we have had with members of the public, Latino or otherwise, was initiated by unlawful activity, traffic infractions, or any other type of police function.”
“An Outpouring Of Support”
While the community is rattled, organizers are heartened by the local response.
“The only bright spot here is we’ve had an outpouring of support,” said Maxwell. “It seems like every sector of the community is outraged and shocked by what happened.”
Maxwell said the Greater Syracuse Labor Council has been sending donations and churches and food pantries have been offering help. School districts are trying to support students, and some elected officials have been reaching out. Local organizations and community members have been holding rallies.
Local organizers and supporters are focused on a few things to support the community.
One is strengthening family preparation by connecting people to legal consults and immigration attorneys, and helping families develop back-up plans, especially for children, if further raids or arrests happen.
They’re also launching fundraisers and accepting donations to provide direct support for families and pay for legal fees.
Kelechian said more state funding is needed for immigrant legal services. “There are not enough immigration attorneys, especially in upstate New York,” she said.
Kelechian also stressed the need for New York State lawmakers to pass the New York For All Act, which would end the collusion of local and state law enforcement with ICE.
Maxwell says that supporters need to put pressure on elected officials, like Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, to do more. “It’s time for people to really call them out and push them to stand up for us,” she said.
Maxwell also emphasized that employers need to be ready for the possibility of raids. “We’re nine months into this administration,” she said. “I think any employer with a significant population of immigrant workers needs to be 150 percent prepared for this kind of thing to happen. It doesn’t feel like this employer was prepared.”
More broadly, local organizers stressed the need for transparency and accountability following the raid.
Mendez suggested people meet with local leaders and law enforcement and try “to get a feel of how they’re going about” immigration enforcement and to hold them to account.
Weeks later, organizers still note the brazen assault on basic rights during the raid.
“You just throw out the word ‘criminal’ and you can racially profile and violate human rights and violate due process? Where’s the accountability? Where’s the transparency? It’s like there are no rules anymore,” Mendez said.
