BREAKING: Possible ICE Raid of Red Roof Inn, Queensbury
Indivisible ADK/Saratoga provides photo that is hard to confirm.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid over the weekend netted between 10 and 15 people from the Red Roof Inn, at 191 Corinth Road in Queensbury, according to a tip from the Indivisible ADK/Saratoga group. The Dispatch has not been able to confirm that a raid occurred; however, the Warren County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that ICE responded to a police call at or near that location over the weekend.
The exact details of who was taken have not been immediately disclosed.
A photo shared by Indivisible ADK/Saratoga shows what appears to be ICE agents with detained people on the side of a building, but there is no way to prove that the photo comes from Queensbury or the Red Roof Inn.
An organizer with the group says they have gotten some of the information from another group that works with people in the greater Adirondack region.
Indivisible also says that Warren County Sheriffs Deputies were on hand, despite the department saying earlier this year that they would not participate in this sort of activity.
A call to Warren County Sheriff Jim LaFarr was not returned at first, but the sheriff wrote an email to The Dispatch, explaining what was reported to him from deputies:
“I am not aware of any Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid,” Sheriff Jim LaFarr wrote to The Dispatch in the email. “On [Friday] 06/22 our Sheriff’s Office received a call for an intoxicated subject at 199 Corinth Road in the Town of Queensbury who was reporting that he was robbed. When our officer arrived at the scene the complainant provided an identification that could not be verified and there were challenges in determining what actually occurred and who he was due to language barriers, the complainant spoke Spanish.
“The officer contacted the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services attempting for assistance in determining the complainant’s identity. Based upon the call to DHSES Immigration and Customs Enforcement members responded to the scene while our investigation was ongoing.
“No member of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office engaged in any immigration inquiries or immigration enforcement efforts. Our investigation into the alleged robbery revealed there was a miscommunication between the complainant and his acquaintances, so no arrests were made.”
When Yuriy Zinovyev, 49, of Glens Falls, was taken by ICE earlier in June, he was delivered to the county jail in Montgomery County.
An officer with Montgomery County Jail confirmed that about 12 people were delivered to their facility over the weekend, but the officer had few details beyond that and could not confirm that the people had come from Warren County.
In May, Warren County was among a number of New York counties listed as a “sanctuary county” by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. DHS quickly took the list off of government websites, but the list still exists. The office of U.S. Rep Elise Stefanik and the offices of senators Charles “Chuck” Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand all have asked about how the county was added to the list and none have learned the reason Warren County is on the list or how the county might be removed, said John Taflan, the county administrator.
Indivisible is holding a demonstration Thursday June 26 at 4:30 PM in City Park in Glens Falls. This demonstration was planned before the raid on Friday, organizers said.
Their website says they “organize and mobilize for actions that safeguard and advocate for vulnerable communities, protect human rights, guard our planet, elect progressive candidates, and protect democracy.”
CORRECTION: This story first published with the wrong hotel listed. It is the Queensbury Red Roof Inn where this apparently occurred. Also, we corrected the location of the demonstration on June 26, it is in City Park in Glens Falls, New York.