ICE Raids Upstate New York Food Manufacturer, Detaining Dozens of Workers
NEW YORK – A federal immigration raid at a food manufacturing plant in upstate New York resulted in the detention of dozens of workers on Thursday, prompting concerns about production disruptions and family separations. The operation, conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), targeted the facility and comes on the same day as a large-scale immigration enforcement action in Georgia.The raid has raised questions about the scope of current immigration enforcement tactics and their impact on local businesses and communities.Approximately 50 to 60 workers,primarily from Guatemala,remained in custody as of Friday,according to the advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry. The detentions threaten to significantly impact the plant’s output and have left families fearing for their future.
Plant owner John Schmidt estimated production would drop by roughly half without the detained employees, creating challenges in meeting customer demand. The facility employs nearly 230 people. “We’ll just do what we need to do to move forward to give our customers the product that thay need,” Schmidt said,”and then slowly recoup,rehire where we need.”
Schmidt expressed concern that ICE agents appeared to be targeting companies with a notable Hispanic workforce, “whether small or large.”
The ICE action occurred concurrently with the detention of 475 people, largely South Korean nationals, at a Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing site in Georgia.
new York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the raid, stating, “I’ve made it clear: New York will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals, but we will never stand for masked ICE agents separating families and abandoning children.” The governor noted that the detained workers include parents of “at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”
Wilmer Jimenez, chief program officer for Rural and Migrant Ministry, reported that among those released late Thursday after approximately 11 hours in custody was a mother of a newborn child who needed to return home to nurse her baby. One released worker, who supports his family in Guatemala by sending money home from his job, stated, ”I have to go back because I can’t be without work,” and plans to return to his position on Monday.
The situation remains fluid as ICE continues to process those detained. The long-term effects on the food manufacturer and the affected families are yet to be persistent.