ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Fifty-seven people in the country illegally were detained after a raid on an upstate New York snack bar plant last week, according to federal prosecutor who warned Tuesday that employers can expect more large-scale workplace enforcement actions.
John Sarcone, acting U.S. Attorney for northern New York, said five of the people detained after the raid Thursday in rural Cato, New York were criminally charged for illegally re-entering the United States. The other 52 were detained pending deportation proceedings.
The advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry has said most of the people detained at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant were from Guatemala. It happened the same day immigration authorities detained 475 people at a manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.
Sarcone told a news conference that the investigation in New York was continuing.
“We will aggressively pursue criminal investigations against those who violate our laws by employing non-citizens without authorization. There will be consequences. The bad old days of turning a blind eye are over,” Sarcone said.
Factory owners said last week that their employees had legal documentation and that they did not know why they were raided.
Calls seeking comment were made to the factory Tuesday and an email seeking comment was sent to a co-owner.
Federal agents converged on the nutrition bar plant Thursday morning and took workers away in a Border Patrol van, according to photos and videos of the raid. One worker told The Associated Press that immigration agents ordered everyone to a lunch room, where they asked for proof they are in the country legally.
Democratic elected officials called it an example of heavy-handed immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Gov. Kathy Hochul said detaining parents put “at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”
Sarcone said social service agencies were involved and no children came home to an empty house.