For Immediate Release

January 13, 2026

United University Professions President Frederick E. Kowal expressed sadness and anger over today’s ruling by a federal immigration judge to deport UUP member Alcibiades “Alex” Lazaro Ramírez González, a Cuban refugee who works at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

Batavia Immigration Court Judge Eric Schultz ruled that González will be deported to Ecuador pending an appeal. The Department of Homeland Security used an Asylum Cooperative Agreement between the United States and Ecuador to deport González.

González, who is being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, has until Feb. 12 to appeal the decision.

“This is a blatant betrayal of basic American values and principles that completely ignores America’s longstanding tradition of welcoming refugees like Alex, a union member and a respected member of his community. He is a hard worker, a homeowner and a taxpayer.

“Like so many refugees, Alex believed in the promise emblazoned on a plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,’” Kowal continued. “He was misled. Those huddled masses are not welcome in Donald Trump’s America.”

Kowal said the union would do everything in its power, including working with the González family, to ensure that his rights are protected and his appeal is successful.

“This is a racist campaign to rid this country of people of color,” Kowal said. “If you have a brown face, you’re targeted. In this case, it’s very likely that Alex and his husband are in the situation they’re in because they are a gay married couple.”

González’s husband, CSEA member Yannier “Yan” Vázquez Hildago, is still being held at the detention facility; both men have been there since Oct. 29, 2025, when they were detained by ICE agents while waiting to attend an immigration hearing in Mattydale, a Syracuse suburb.

González and Vázquez fled Cuba in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Both men work in Upstate’s Environmental Services Department; they own a home in North Syracuse. UUP represents more than 4,800 Upstate employees.

UUP has been instrumental in publicizing González’s detainment and court proceedings. On Nov. 10, UUP, CSEA and a coalition of elected officials and community groups loudly called for the release of the Upstate workers; more than 400 people attended the rally.