Activists rallied in Glens Falls Thursday after a long-time local resident with legal status was arrested by federal immigration authorities in Saratoga County.
Yuriy Zinovyev was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a routine appointment with immigration officials in Ballston Spa Tuesday.
Two days later, community activists showed up in force in Glens Falls, Zinovyev's longtime adopted hometown.
Cheryl McGrattan, a member of Indivisible ADK/Saratoga, says she has been trying to visit Zinovyev at the Montgomery County Jail. He has since been transferred to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility.
Neither facility responded to requests for comment.
“Then I went back this morning and brought him coffee and donuts, because he has no one other than Igor. And I said, ‘I am here to bring Yuri some breakfast.’ And they said, ‘we do not let inmates have food from the outside,’ and I said, ‘he’s not an inmate,’” said McGrattan.
Igor Negelyov says Zinovyev, who moved to America 25 years ago from Kazakhstan, doesn’t have any family in the U.S.
“He’s a beautiful, very caring. He’s helpful. He’s smart, knowledgeable, intelligent. You can talk to him about almost everything. He’s learning everyday like I am,” said Igor Negelyov.
The pair became friends two decades while working at Intermagnetics General Corp. in Latham. Negelyov would drive Zinovyev to his regular immigration appointments in Ballston Spa twice a year.
“And you know they [the appointments] are extending his right to work in this country. He has some [identification] number. But that’s the only one document he has in this country, no citizenship, no nothing, not even green card. So, usually he goes to see the officer, comes back and I take him home. But this time he didn’t come out of that office,” said Negelyov.
Indivisible ADK/Saratoga founder Renee Roundtree says the dozens who gathered at Glens Falls City Park showed vital support for Zinovyev and other immigrants in the region.
“Because if you disappear anybody you disappear us all. And we have got to stand up for every single person in our community. They’re here, they’re working, they’re helping us, and we cannot allow them to be disappeared,” said Roundtree.
ICE did not comment on Tuesday's arrest and has refused to comment on recent arrests in the region. In April, ICE arrested an undisclosed number of individuals in downtown Saratoga Springs.
On Monday, ICE announced federal authorities arrested nearly 1,500 people in May in Massachusetts. The agency said every person arrested had broken immigration laws.
New York Congressman Paul Tonko, whose 20th district includes Ballston Spa, released a statement Thursday calling Zinovyev’s detainment “concerning.” The Democrat, who is demanding due process in the case, said, “Immigrants should not have to fear arrest and deportation for following the law."
