Alex and Yan are missing: Syracuse nurses, friends and politicians protest after ICE detains Central NY couple

Syracuse, N.Y. — More than a hundred people, including top local elected officials and the city’s next mayor, gathered Monday evening in downtown Syracuse to demand the release of two Upstate hospital workers detained by federal immigration authorities.

A mix of area residents and unions representing the two hospital workers and their co-workers stood together in frigid, snowy weather outside the James M. Hanley Federal Building in Clinton Square.

The unions, the Civil Service Employees Association and United University Professions, handed out multi-colored glowsticks and custom-printed signs that said, “We stand with Alex and Yan.”

“They don’t know us,” said Sharon Owens, Syracuse’s mayor-elect. “We’ll stand out in the middle of a snowstorm to stand up for what’s right.”

The two hospital workers, Alcibiades “Alex” Lazaro Ramirez Gonzalez and Yannier “Yan” Vazquez Hidalgo, were detained late last month when they went to an appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Mattydale. The two men, who got married this fall, have requested asylum protections in the United States after fleeing their native Cuba.

The arrests at the immigration office, which have become common across the country during President Donald Trump’s second term, have provoked outrage. Family members and union officials met earlier this month with Gov. Kathy Hochul about the case. She promised to help them find a good lawyer.

A family member said at the rally Monday that she had recently visited the men at the federal immigration detention center near Buffalo, where they are being held. They gave her a message to deliver to their supporters, including the boisterous, bundled-up crowd.

“We want to come home,” the cousin, Miriam Andres, said the men told her.

Leaders from the unions representing the men said it was wrong for federal immigration authorities to arrest people working to earn their place in the United States.

“They’re doing exactly what our country asks people to do,” said Kenny Greenleaf, the president of the CSEA’s central region. “Follow the law, show up at their hearings and work hard to build a better life.”

Some co-workers from the hospital were at the rally. Ashley Clark, a cancer nurse, said the two men were fixtures in the office. They were there before she got in each day and stayed long after she went home.

“They light up a whole room, and they just have such a love and compassion for other people,” she told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “And that’s missing.”

A variety of unions were represented at the rally, including the teachers union and SEIU. Melinda Person, the president of the New York state teachers union, attended.

Many different kinds of Democratic elected officials were at the rally, including progressive stalwarts like city auditor Alexander Marion and state Sen. Rachel May.

Assembly member Bill Magnarelli, currently serving his 14th term, also spoke.

“Their detention is just another shocking example of the cruel and inhuman treatment of our immigrant community under the Trump administration,” he said. “Alex and Yan came to Central New York to escape discrimination and oppression in Cuba, and to build a better life through hard work and determination. Their story is no different than the previous generations of immigrants who came to Central New York.”

Owens, who will become Syracuse’s mayor in January, said it was important to stand up for the rights of all community members.

“If you ignore the plight of your neighbor because that neighbor doesn’t look like you, speak like you, love like you,” she said, “you better believe that that plight, that evil, is going to someday knock on your door.”

“The definition of ‘illegal’ is whatever they choose to make it,” she said.