New York officials and advocates are condemning immigration raids that disrupted communities after dozens of workers were detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents Thursday.

The immigration enforcement operations took place in Cato and Fulton, New York. They come as the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement operations at work sites across the country.

One of the raids, at Nutrition Bar Confectioners packaging plant in Cato, New York, was captured on video. Advocates and witnesses told Scripps News dozens of agents forced their way into the building using crowbars.

"When I got to the site, I saw it was filled with a bunch of unmarked vehicles and marked vehicles as well. There was a command unit on site. There were ATVs. There were dune buggies. I did not see the dogs, but some of the workers did report that there were dogs on site as well," Ana Mendez-Vasquez, who lives in the community and was at the scene of the raid, told Scripps News Group over the phone Friday.

"They were texting me saying that ICE had raided the place and they had them basically on lockdown. No one could get in or out, um, and they were cutting their communication, so making sure they weren't recording on their phones."

Advocates and witnesses told Scripps News Group workers were separated into two groups while locked inside the plant, one for citizens and permanent residents and the other for non-citizens.

Mendez-Vasquez, an organizer with immigrant advocacy organization Rural & Migrant Ministry, said citizens were told to leave, but non-citizens, despite having work permits, were taken into custody. She added that many of the detained have children.

"A lot of them either have children here in the U.S. or children back home in their home country that they send money to. They're the main breadwinners for their families. And it was very sad contacting the families, making sure that the children had somewhere to stay, either with a legal guardian, maybe a partner that didn't work there or a relative that could take care of them," Mendez-Vasquez said.

RELATED STORY | Largest ever workplace raid places 475 workers from Georgia Hyundai plant in ICE custody

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in a statement Thursday, said she is outraged by raids which seized at least 40 adults "including parents of at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house."

Hochul added that the raids didn't make New Yorkers feel safer but "did shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here."

The New York raids occurred the same day as Homeland Security Investigations carried out its "largest single-site enforcement operation in the history" of the agency. Hundreds of people were taken into custody from the site, a Hyundai manufacturing megaplant.

In a statement regarding the Cato raid, an ICE Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson said the operation was "court-authorized enforcement actions" and declined to comment further on "this specific ongoing criminal investigation at this time."

Principal owner of Nutrition Bar Confectioners Mark Schmidt told The New York Times that all his workers had legal documentation to work in the United States and called the operation "overkill."

The plant's general manager, Chris Massaro, told Scripps News over the phone that the plant did not receive prior notice about the raid and that the plant reopened Friday.

Advocates say workplace immigration raids have severely impacted local communities and businesses. In the past few months, there have been raids at worksites across the country, including a major commercial warehouse in New Jersey, a dairy farm in New Mexico, and a meatpacking plant in Nebraska.

Mendez-Vasquez said the Cato community, which relies heavily on agriculture and plants like Nutrition Bar Confectioners, have been bracing for these raids. She said workers and advocates had voiced concerns and were assured ICE would not allow ICE on the property without a warrant.

"Some workers are very mad that they were able to get in," Mendez-Vasquez said. "But then again, ICE did force themselves in. So there's only so much that a person can do when these agencies have complete power and complete control over buildings, over just having jurisdiction."

In the past two months, U.S. immigration lawyers have reported that at least 20 individuals have been deported to various African countries, with several being held in maximum-security prisons despite facing no criminal charges.

Legal aid attorneys in New York say five deportees from the U.S. were sent to Eswatini, where they are being illegally imprisoned.

"My two clients have been imprisoned in Eswatini, at U.S. taxpayer expense, for over six weeks," said Alma David, a U.S.-based attorney for the two men who are from Yemen and Cuba, in a statement sent to Scripps News. "No one has told them why they are being detained, and no lawyer has been permitted to visit them."

RELATED STORY | Democrat-led cities are under a mass deportation threat 

One of the deportees has been identified as a Jamaican national who came to the U.S. legally and was convicted of murder. Despite completing his 25-year sentence, the 62-year-old was deported to Eswatini. He had been working in a men's shelter at the time and wasn't accused of any new crimes.

Eswatini is among several African nations that have entered agreements with the U.S. to accept non-citizen deportees. Other countries involved include Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda, each seen as part of a program that has largely operated in secrecy. Several other African nations are reportedly considering similar agreements.

Ariel Ruiz Soto, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told Scripps News Group that while third-country deportations are not new, the current administration is focusing on deporting individuals to more locations at an accelerated rate.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING | Supreme Court allows Trump to deport migrants away from their home countries

"The key concern is not just the number of people being sent to third countries where they are not from, but also that they are not necessarily given the review and due process to consider their protection or asylum claims," Soto said.

Defending this process in a statement to Scripps News, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said, "The average illegal alien gets far more due process than most Americans. The fact of the matter is those who are in our country illegally have a choicethey can leave the country voluntarily or be arrested and deported."

Human rights and legal advocates argue this expedited deportation process may result in individuals being sent to countries deemed unsafe, potentially violating international law.

As the Trump administration approaches additional nations for third-country deportation agreements, some have declined. Nigeria's Foreign Minister pointed to the country's population of 230 million people, saying the nation has problems of its own.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Judge blocks Trump administration's plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda

Meanwhile, some nations have countered with stipulations of their own. Uganda has said it will not accept deportees with criminal records or unaccompanied minors.

"A lot of these countries that are receiving third-country nationals have in their negotiations the clause to not receive immigrants who have a criminal past or some sort of criminal background, and that is in counter to what the Trump administration is suggesting that they're focusing on criminals who are the most violent of them all," Soto said.

A controversial immigration enforcement strategy has prompted a lawsuit from New York City officials, backed by Mayor Eric Adams. The suit calls on the Trump administration to immediately end ICE arrests at courthouses.

"No one should be afraid to send their children to school, go to a hospital when sick, call 911 when in danger, or go to a court hearing when called upon to do so," Adams said.

According to recent data analysis from the city, over the past few months, half of all the courthouse arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. took place in New York City. They occurred in buildings like 26 Federal Plaza, where people show up to immigration court for mandatory hearings.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump administration sues NYC, blames city's immigration policy for shooting

In response the city's lawsuit, Department of homeland Security defended courthouse arrests.

"Nothing in the constitution prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them. The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense. It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be. It is also safer for our officers and the community. These illegal aliens have gone through security and been screened to not have any weapons," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Scripps News in an emailed statement.

However, advocates argue that detaining respondents as they leave court undermines the legitimacy of the immigration process.

"People are showing up with their hearing notice. They're going to the court room that they've been told to go to. They're coming with the documents for their case or whatever the judge has required of them. And they look outside that waiting room and they see ICE officers oftentimes detaining people while other people are waiting for their court hearing," Benjamin Remy, senior staff attorney for New York Legal Assistance Group's Immigrant Protection Unit, told the Scripps News Group.

"What we're seeing is that people are being forced to choose between gambling by continuing with their case and risk being detained indefinitely, or to be ordered to remove without even having a chance to present their case. And that just places people in an impossible situation," Remy added.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING | Deportation fears grip New Yorks Little Haiti neighborhood

The situation has left many immigrants caught in a web of chaos and uncertainty.

"They don't know if they're going home to their family. They don't know if they're going home to their kids," Remy added. "They're essentially taking a gamble, and that gamble is to try and do things the right way."

Sonia Wiecek, a court watcher who regularly attends hearings at 26 Federal Plaza, is one of several who attempt to mitigate the fear surrounding these detentions.

"Our primary role as court watchers is to be there to help collect contact information for any emergency contacts should they be detained by ICE," Wiecek told Scripps News Group. "I think it's a level of assurance to them a very small level of assurance that people are out here and they're looking out for them."