Federal agents raided a family-owned factory in the town of Ira on Thursday, and according to reports detained dozens of employees.
U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement and Border Patrol raided Nutrition Bar Confectioners at 12351 Route 34 that morning, according to . Witnesses about 60 employees were detained and taken away in unmarked vehicles to destinations that were not shared with family members. Officers, many wearing masks, sorted employees into U.S. citizens and noncitizens.聽
The Cayuga and Oswego county sheriff's offices assisted with the raid.
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Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck told 水果派AV his deputies assisted with scene and traffic security, and the office's mobile command unit was deployed.
Schenck declined further comment, deferring to the Department of Homeland Security. Its public affairs officer for New York, Stephanie Pagones, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.聽
A video provided to 水果派AV shows a raid by federal agents Thursday at Nutrition Bar Confectioners in the town of Ira.
ICE's Office of Public Affairs and Nutrition Bar Confectioners also did not immediately respond for requests for comment by 水果派AV.聽
According to , Nutrition Bar Confectioners was founded in 1978 by the Schmidt family and is in its third generation of ownership. It produces energy, snack, protein and meal replacement bars.
The Workers Center of Central New York told 水果派AV that several of its members were among those detained. They are hardworking, longtime Central New York residents with children and no criminal record, it said. The聽center also said none of the family members of the detainees have been able to obtain any information about them, and the agents conducting the raid would not answer questions.
"(We) know of several young children who will be going to bed tonight without their parents," the center said.
"This operation to us exemplified how bloated, cruel and unaccountable immigration enforcement has become," it continued. "Actions like these spread panic and fear throughout the community, and that seems to be the point as much as anything else. These raids don鈥檛 protect our communities, they terrorize them."
Others that responded to the raid included Rural & Migrant Ministry, the New York Immigration Coalition, Finger Lakes Rapid Response and local community members, the center said.
In a post on Facebook, the Rural & Migrant Ministry the people detained have been sent to a detention center in Oswego. Many friends and family of its staff were among the detainees.
The ministry said agents entered the factory with a battering ram and led "virtually the entire workforce" into a room where each employee was questioned one at a time over the course of several hours.
Arrests by ICE have by 120% since the beginning of the second term of President Trump, according to CBS News. Recent data 65% of detainees have no previous criminal convictions.
This story will be updated.
"I'm still shocked. ... They did absolutely nothing wrong except exist."