Dozens detained in immigration raid at N.Y. nutrition bar maker

Federal agents forced open the doors of a snack bar manufacturer and took away dozens of workers in a surprise enforcement action that the plant’s co-owner called “terrifying.”

- By MicHack. HILL

THE PLANT'S workers had all been vetted and have legal documentation, the facility's co-owner said.

Video and photos taken at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant Thursday showed numerous law enforcement vehicles outside the plant and workers being escorted from the building to a Border Patrol van. Immigration agents ordered everyone to a lunchroom, where they asked for proof the workers were in the country legally, according to one 24-year-old worker who was briefly detained.

The reason for the enforcement action was unclear. Local law enforcement officials said the operation was led by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, which did not respond to requests for information. Nutrition Bar Confectioners co-owner Lenny Schmidt said he was also in the dark about the purpose of the raid.

“There's got to be a better way to do it,” Schmidt told the Associated Press on Friday at the family-owned business in Cato, NY., about 30 miles west of Syracuse.

The facility's employees had all been vetted and had legal documentation, Schmidt said, adding that he would have cooperated with law enforcement if he'd been told there were concerns.

“Coming in like they did, it’s frightening for everybody — the Latinos ... that work here, and everybody else that works here as well, even myself and my family. It’s terrifying,” he said.