New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she met with the owners of the Cayuga County nutrition bar production facility that was subject to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid earlier this month and is “fed up” with the actions of the agency and its impact on those detained and the business they work for.
During a press conference in Onondaga County, the governor criticized ICE and their raid on the Cato nutrition bar plant, Nutrition Bar Confectioners. ICE detained 57 people who were “unlawfully present” in the U.S. and working there. Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone said last week that five face felony federal charges and the 52 others were “on their way back to their countries of origin.” However, a Central New York immigration attorney said that isn’t the case but the U.S. attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment to clarify their original statement.
“They’re struggling to keep their business afloat,” Hochul said. “I walked the factory lines. They were idle. They make products that are sold in Costcos and Walmarts and stores all across the world – nutrition bars. And they showed me the assembly lines that were silent where workers had just been just 12 days ago. They showed me the workers that were still there but many of them have been traumatized and many other workers have just not returned.”…