More than 60 federal immigration agents, many masked and clad in military gear, stormed a family-owned granola-bar factory in upstate Cato, New York, on the first day of school one year ago this week.
Agents forced their way into women’s bathrooms and peered over stalls inside Nutrition Bar Confectioners. They herded pregnant women and young mothers into a sweaty breakroom packed with about 160 workers, including some US citizens.
US Customs and Border Patrol and other federal agencies had spent months looking into whether Nutrition Bar Confectioners was a haven for undocumented workers, and obtained two search warrants. One gave them permission to seize records and electronics that could prove the company hired workers illegally; the other, to conduct “consensual” questioning of employees. Workers couldn’t be pressured to speak, and could only be arrested if there was probable cause they were undocumented, according to the warrant and a judge’s ruling.
But when agents burst through the doors, they swiftly turned away from their stated purpose and began rounding up workers, a federal judge found. English speakers were separated from Spanish speakers, and nobody was allowed to leave the building until agents questioned them. Witnesses described a chaotic and poorly organized affair, with one customs agent calling the operation a “shitshow,” according to body camera video and a Dec. 18 court ruling.
“The agents’ conduct here was, at best, grossly negligent ….agents engaged in conduct markedly different from that which the Government told the magistrate judge would occur,” Brenda K. Sannes, chief U.S. District judge for the Northern District of New York, wrote while suppressing all evidence in a criminal case against one of the detained workers. “Even assuming that warrant complied with the Fourth Amendment — an issue which is far from clear cut — the agents plainly exceeded its contemplated scope.”
A year after one of the largest immigration raids in recent New York history, many of the assertions made at the time by immigration officials, DOJ attorneys and ICE agents have been refuted by court filings, affidavits, bodycam footage and judicial rulings.
[OP] bloomberglaw | 10 hours ago
More than 60 federal immigration agents, many masked and clad in military gear, stormed a family-owned granola-bar factory in upstate Cato, New York, on the first day of school one year ago this week.
Agents forced their way into women’s bathrooms and peered over stalls inside Nutrition Bar Confectioners. They herded pregnant women and young mothers into a sweaty breakroom packed with about 160 workers, including some US citizens.
US Customs and Border Patrol and other federal agencies had spent months looking into whether Nutrition Bar Confectioners was a haven for undocumented workers, and obtained two search warrants. One gave them permission to seize records and electronics that could prove the company hired workers illegally; the other, to conduct “consensual” questioning of employees. Workers couldn’t be pressured to speak, and could only be arrested if there was probable cause they were undocumented, according to the warrant and a judge’s ruling.
But when agents burst through the doors, they swiftly turned away from their stated purpose and began rounding up workers, a federal judge found. English speakers were separated from Spanish speakers, and nobody was allowed to leave the building until agents questioned them. Witnesses described a chaotic and poorly organized affair, with one customs agent calling the operation a “shitshow,” according to body camera video and a Dec. 18 court ruling.
“The agents’ conduct here was, at best, grossly negligent ….agents engaged in conduct markedly different from that which the Government told the magistrate judge would occur,” Brenda K. Sannes, chief U.S. District judge for the Northern District of New York, wrote while suppressing all evidence in a criminal case against one of the detained workers. “Even assuming that warrant complied with the Fourth Amendment — an issue which is far from clear cut — the agents plainly exceeded its contemplated scope.”
A year after one of the largest immigration raids in recent New York history, many of the assertions made at the time by immigration officials, DOJ attorneys and ICE agents have been refuted by court filings, affidavits, bodycam footage and judicial rulings.
Read more in the full story.
-Elliot
clean-links | 10 hours ago
Cleaned link from "story": https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ice-factory-raid-that-shook-ny-town-sparks-scrutiny-a-year-later
Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).
Signal-Mud-4880 | 6 hours ago
because we need to be safe from granola bar workers i guess. i hate this so much