Third Hospital Worker Detained by ICE in Upstate NY

Syracuse, N.Y. — A third Upstate University Hospital worker has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the worker’s union.

The man was taken into custody Tuesday while walking in Syracuse’s Hawley-Green neighborhood, where he lives, said Ali Cottrell, the president of CSEA Local 615. He said the union is not naming the worker at the request of the family.

The employee was in Upstate’s Environmental Services Department as a cleaner, Cottrell said.

In late October, two other Upstate hospital employees were detained by ICE after attending immigration hearings. They worked in the same department as the man detained Tuesday.

The man arrested this week is originally from Africa and had proper documentation to be hired at the hospital, Cottrell said. He wasn’t yet sure which country the man is from.

“He had to have all the right conditions to work at Upstate because they don’t just bring people in and let them work if they don’t have the right information,” Cottrell said.

The man had completed two weeks of training at Upstate and was scheduled to officially start his cleaning job this week, he said.

The union is working to provide his family with resources and support, Cottrell said. He added that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has not yet contacted the union for information about the case.

Cottrell said he believes the man is being held at a federal immigration detention center in Batavia, but the union is still working to confirm his location.