Cato, N.Y. – More than 40 adults were taken in a federal raid of a food manufacturing plant in Cato Thursday, including the parents of at least a dozen school-age children, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul issued a statement Thursday night that she is outraged by the raid at the factory by federal agents, some masked, which she described as cruel.
The immigration raid started at about 9 a.m. at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory at 12351 Route 34, according to an employee. The family-owned business, founded in 1978, makes specialty nutrition bars.
Federal agents also conducted a raid in Fulton, Hochul said.
Hochul said at least a dozen children may have returned home from school to an empty house.
“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,” Hochul said.
The raid included officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Cayuga County and Oswego County sheriff’s offices. The Cayuga sheriff’s office had its mobile command center at the factory.
Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck said the raid was a U.S. Department of Homeland Security criminal investigation. He declined to provide any other details. The Oswego sheriff’s office did not respond to inquiries about the raid.
At its peak, about 50 agents and deputies were at the factory, witnesses said. Some officers wore masks and many wore bullet-proof vests.
One employee estimated about 100 people were working at the time of the raid. Federal agents broke down the doors with crowbars, two employees said.
During the raid, one employee said she saw a few women who were being detained crying and throwing up.
“Today’s raids will not make New York safer,” Hochul said. “What they did was shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here, just like millions of immigrants before them.”
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson did not answer questions submitted by Syracuse.com but confirmed the raid happened.
The location where the detained individuals were taken is not known at this time. Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard has reached out to ICE and Homeland Security for more information.
Federal agents and Cayuga County deputies at an immigration raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.Finn Lincoln | finnlincoln@syracuse.com
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