U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have had ripple effects across the country, leading some to take a stand against the deadly incidents in Minneapolis earlier this year and continued ICE enforcement across the country.

Many small businesses in Tompkins County have raised money for a group supporting new Americans and refugees, including one business that makes lattes and another joining a nationwide knitting project. A yarn shop in the Albany area has also raised money selling red yarn, but for a Minneapolis nonprofit.

“It was a great opportunity to make impact, to make a statement, but also to give back to the community,” said Sam Gellar-Smith, co-owner, Protagonist Books and Coffee.

Gellar-Smith felt moved to action after two people were killed in Minnesota amid federal immigration presence in the city.

What You Need To Know

Many businesses in Tompkins County have held fundraisers to support Ithaca Welcomes Refugees

Fundraisers included selling red yarn and hot lattes

The movement of knitting anti-ICE protest hats has extended across the country, including at a yarn shop in the Capital Region

“It was very personal. As my grandmother survived the pogroms in Poland prior to the Holocaust. She got out during that time, but much of her family did not. And it felt very similar to the stories she told me when I was young,” said Gellar-Smith.

So she decided to add an item to her menu. 

“We were talking with our social media maven, Erica, and she said, you know, f– ICE. Let me just make a f– ICE latte. I was like, yeah, let’s do it,” said Gellar-Smith.

“I think it’s a cool, bold statement, to give it that name,” said Katy Bond, a Protagonist Books and Coffee customer.

“When local businesses and stuff, like, support the issues that they care about, I think it makes me more likely to go to that business,” said Emma Parker Miller, a Protagonist Books and Coffee customer.

“A lot of my friends that are here on visas and they can be gone any moment. And I think that sucks so bad,” said Gray Lewis, also a customer.

Gellar-Smith said adding a hot latte to the menu wasn’t just a way to vent frustration, but to raise money for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees. The group connects immigrants and refugees with English classes, employment, furniture and more.

“I just really would encourage people to give people the benefit of the doubt, to have civil conversations, even over really hard subjects. I think it is possible to heal, but people need to have the will to do that and just to be able to listen and not be at each other’s throats all the time,” said Casey Verderosa, executive director of Ithaca Welcomes Refugees.

“We decided that loving our immigrant and refugee neighbors here was something that we wanted to do in a sacrificial way,” said Chris Cushman, owner of Connected Stitches Yarn and Fiber Shop, a neighbor of Protagonist Books and Coffee.

Meanwhile, in the yarn world, shops are joining a nationwide trend.

“I’ve actually had people come in that are getting back into knitting like they haven’t done it in decades. And they’re like, ‘I saw this hat, I got to make this hat. Where do I go?’” said Cushman.

For a few weeks, she donated sales of red yarn to Ithaca Welcomes Refugees. Cushman and another shop in the Capital Region chose red for a reason.

“The hat was based on a Norwegian style where there was red, and it had a tassel coming off the back and it was a sign of resistance to the Nazis in the 1940s. So the new hats today were recreated based on that style,” said Cecilia Tkaczyk, a former state senator and owner of Cece’s Wool.

Knitters and crocheters are making the red hats and sometimes wearing them to anti-ICE protests. Cece’s Wool, located in the Capital Region, decided to donate $2,000 of red yarn sales to the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.

“We’re in this together. What’s happening to you is happening to us as well. And we can’t just ignore it,” said Tkaczyk.

“They’ve appreciated seeing a business make a stance and not be quiet about it. But I’ve also had other community members tell me how disappointed they are in me and the choice to use the business and proceeds to donate,” said Cushman.

Ithaca Welcomes Refugees says more than a dozen businesses have donated $7,000 from fundraisers.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to more than half a dozen Republican lawmakers and Republican groups that declined or didn’t return our request for an interview on this topic.

Of the more than 7,800 immigrants and refugees that resettled in upstate New York in 2024, most of those ended up in Onondaga, Erie or Monroe counties. And most of them were from Afghanistan, followed by Congo and Syria, according to the state Department of Temporary and Disability Assistance.