Gov. Hochul slams federal immigration raid, calling it ‘deeply appalling’ and ‘un-American”

Syracuse, N.Y. - Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday lambasted a federal immigration raid on a Cayuga County factory, calling it “un-American” and “deeply appalling.”

Hochul, who was at the Public Safety Building in Syracuse, talked about the raid on the Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato on Sept. 4 that led to 69 of the factory’s 150 workers being detained. Some of the detained workers were deported to Guatemala in less than 72 hours.

“It was cruel,” she said. “And to me it was un-American.”

Cato raid — Federal agents and Cayuga County deputies at an immigration raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.Provided photograph

Hochul said she visited the factory Monday morning and met with the Schmidt family, which owns the protein bar factory. She said the raid left them struggling to keep their business afloat.

“I walked the factory lines; they’re idle,” she said. “They showed me the workers that were still there, but many of them have been traumatized, and many other workers have just not returned.”

The governor was critical of the way federal agents got into the factory by claiming they were looking for a violent felon. There were no violent criminals. In the end, five workers were charged with entering U.S. illegally after previously being deported.

Hochul said the type of search warrant used was an administrative warrant, intended for lesser cases. It wasn’t a criminal search warrant.

Hochul said she was shocked by how ICE agents carried out the raid, where workers were separated by skin color before being detained.

“They really had ‘white people over here, brown people over here,’” she said.

Mothers detained during the raid were separated from their breastfeeding infants, the governor said. Some workers are still being held in detention centers as far away as Louisiana.

“That’s hard on the mom,” she said. “It’s also very unhealthy for the baby.”

The governor talked about a male ICE agent bursting into the women’s bathroom while one worker was on the toilet with her pants down, barking at her to follow him.

“I don’t know what you say after describing that,” she said. “It was so deeply appalling.”

Hochul said she reached out to Tom Homan, who Trump has named his “border czar,” to see if he could help take care of the detained mothers and reunite them with their babies.

She said he told her he wasn’t familiar with the circumstances and that he’d look into it, but that she hasn’t heard back yet.

“Law enforcement at my disposal will help you if you are truly looking to eliminate the threat of violent individuals from our communities,” she said. “That is the proper use of your uniform. Not taking apart and scattering a family.”