Immigration sting on NYS Thruway ends with nearly 40 arrests, mostly of truck drivers

Nearly 40 people were arrested by federal agents this month in a four-day immigration bust on the New York State Thruway.

Most of the men taken into custody were truck drivers with commercial driver’s licenses, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.

The immigration sting, dubbed “Operation Bear Cave,” took place from Saturday, Nov. 8, through Tuesday, Nov. 11, on the Thruway/Interstate 90.

Agents worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to find immigrants suspected of being in the United States illegally on the Thruway “in the vicinity” of Western New York, Border Patrol said in a statement released Monday. The operation targeted rest areas and truck stops stretching from Buffalo to Syracuse in Central New York, according to WIVB.

Federal agents arrested 37 men, 30 of whom had valid CDLs issued in New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania, the agency said. Seven other men who were not driving commercial vehicles were also arrested.

The Border Patrol did not identify any of the men who were arrested or specify the crime for which they were being charged.

In a Facebook post, Border Patrol’s Buffalo Sector shared a photo compilation of the mugshots of the 37 men taken into custody on the Thruway. A thick black bar covered the eyes of every man, making them harder to identify.

“Deportation is FINAL,” the agency wrote on the image.

Border Patrol said the men arrested on the Thruway were turned over to ICE for deportation proceedings. The men are being detained at the ICE detention center in Batavia, WIVB reported.

James D’Amato, acting chief patrol agent for the Buffalo Sector, said his agency is seeing an “alarming trend” of people who are in the United States illegally working as truck drivers.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul later released a statement about the immigration crackdown on the Thruway.

“Governor Hochul has been clear: You don’t make New York State safer by targeting families, children and hardworking New Yorkers,” the spokesperson said. “We are committed to working with federal law enforcement to crack down on gang members and violent criminals, but we cannot support attacks on New York communities.”