Donation protected
The ICE raid on Thursday, Sept 4, at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory in Cato, NY, has directly disrupted the lives of 60 individuals and their families and impacted our entire region. The scale of devastation on our local community members is hard to quantify. Finger Lakes Rapid Response Network (FLXRRN), Rural and Migrant Ministry (RMM), Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network (SIRDN), Workers Center of Central NY, and the New York Immigration Coalition have stepped up to coordinate aftermath support. Support looks like:
- emergency direct assistance to affected individuals and families
- coordination of legal clinics with interpretation support
- liaising with press to describe what we are witnessing
- advocating for legal support and other support needs
- raising funds to support individuals and families
The needs of families include:
- reuniting children separated from deported parents
- food and other living expenses to offset wages lost due to detention (diapers, formula, bills, rent)
- offsetting legal fees or filing fees for document filing
- funds for phone access in detention centers
What you can do
- Please donate what you can to help individuals and families whose lives have been disrupted by cruel immigration enforcement in Cato.
- Educate yourself: See Know-Your-Rights, Family Preparedness resources and more from New York Immigration Coalition
- Join an immigrant advocacy network and volunteer for one of our organizations: Rural and Migrant Ministry, Syracuse Immigrant Refugee Defense Network, Workers Center of Central New York, the New York Immigration Coalition, or Finger Lakes Rapid Response Network.
- Organize your workplace to protect your immigrant co-workers. Reach out to labor organizations for support: Midstate Council for Occupational Safety & Health, Workers Center for Central New York, Tompkins County Workers Center, or local unions. (Resources: New York Immigration Coalition’s Immigration Enforcement at the Workplace ; Dealing with ICE in the Workplace from the NY Attorney General’s office; Organizing Resources for 4th Amendment Workplaces from Siembra, NC; Fourth Amendment Toolkit for Organizations from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law)
- Write letters to Cayuga and Oswego (and your own county) sheriffs and show up to County board meetings to highlight the negative impact of families in your counties, the impact on local businesses, and the negative impact on the fabric of our communities: all of us. We must stand together!
- Use the WCCNY’s toolkit to advocate for the New York for All campaign, sign the petition and share posters, and call your Legislators to advocate for passage of the Dignity Not Detention act and Senate Bill 8462 to unmask ICE.
- Sign the petition for no collusion between Oswego County sheriffs and immigration forces!
Background information
Cato is in Cayuga County, and most factory employees live in Fulton or Auburn. This is one of the largest documented raids nationally and the largest in our area.
The raid was violent, aggressive, and scary. Over 70 ICE agents, Customs and Border Patrol, and sheriffs deputies from Cayuga and Oswego Counties were involved and outfitted in military gear. They forced their way into the factory with crow bars and guns drawn, and separated white-appearing workers (who they let go) from Hispanic-appearing workers, who were violently shoved into a room. Around 70 people were initially detained; a handful were released quickly. We have been able to identify 60 people who were detained, three of whom are nursing mothers who have been released. (Babies and caregivers were in distress and we had to seek out breast milk donations). Many detainees were moved quickly out of Oswego Customs and Border Patrol to Buffalo and then to Louisiana or Texas; some were then deported with no access to lawyers or court hearings, to which they have a constitutional right.
Many of the individuals have lived in Auburn and Oswego County for a decade or longer. Most have children. Many families had several relatives detained: brothers, cousins, spouses, mothers, daughters, cousins, aunts, uncles. The impact on our local communities is significant, because our community members are woven tightly into our society and lives.
What we will do with the money you donate
We have met with most affected families of detained individuals, and we are still working on reaching all. We will use 50% of the funds raised to provide cash support for every family. We will use the remaining 50% for the coalition organizations directly supporting affected families to prioritize support for high need families who may not have access to additional support from their own communities, or, who due to special circumstances, require additional urgent support (such as helping to offset reunification costs for children separated from parents).
Finger Lakes Rapid Response Network, in coordination with Trinity Place in Geneva, NY, will help distribute collected funds to families across the Finger Lakes, Auburn, and Fulton, in communication with the organizations working directly with impacted families (RMM, WC-CNY, and SIRDN). For large donations, please send checks directly to Trinity Place, 78 East Castle Street, Geneva, NY, and we will send you a letter for tax record purposes; kindly make a note in the notes section to specify that the donation is for Cato aftermath support.
Organizer
Melina Ivanchikova
Organizer
Geneva, NY