Syracuse, N.Y. — More than a hundred people, including top local elected officials and the city’s next mayor, gathered Monday evening in downtown Syracuse to demand the release of two Upstate hospital workers detained by federal immigration authorities.

A mix of area residents and unions representing the two hospital workers and their co-workers stood together in frigid, snowy weather outside the James M. Hanley Federal Building in Clinton Square.

The unions, the Civil Service Employees Association and United University Professions, handed out multi-colored glowsticks and custom-printed signs that said, “We stand with Alex and Yan.”

“They don’t know us,” said Sharon Owens, Syracuse’s mayor-elect. “We’ll stand out in the middle of a snowstorm to stand up for what’s right.”

The two hos

See Full Page