May 12, 2026

Nearly 2,000 unionists at the NYSUT Representative Assembly stood in sustained applause for Upstate Chapter President Mindy Health, above, who was honored May 2 for her tireless advocacy for two unionists arrested by ICE.

NYSUT made a short-but-powerful film about Heath’s efforts, which can be viewed by clicking HERE

Created by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Matt Reynolds the documentary-style film includes footage and photos shot and supplied by UUP and NYSUT.

Upstate UUP member Alcibiades “Alex” Lazaro Ramirez González, pictured above, and his husband, CSEA member Yannier “Yan” Vázquez Hildago, were arrested by federal agents in October 2025 in Syracuse as they waited to attend an immigration hearing on their asylum cases. The men, who are from Cuba, had valid work permits and asylum status, but ICE arrested them anyhow and sent them to a federal detention center in Batavia, near Buffalo.

Ramirez and Vázquez, who were ordered deported to Ecuador by different federal judges—even though they’ve never been to the country—were held for more than three months before they were released on bond in February pending their appeals of the rulings.

Heath wasted no time getting involved. Working closely with UUP President Fred Kowal and labor leaders in Syracuse and Albany, Heath hastily organized a Nov. 10 rally for Ramirez and Vázquez that drew hundreds of supporters and was widely covered by Syracuse media.

Heath did numerous news interviews with Syracuse media and UUP quickly became a clearing house of information to Salt City reporters about the status of the two men. She designed t-shirts with the silhouettes of the men on the front and the words “We Stand with Alex and Yan.” She also visited the men at the detention center; Heath was there when they were released on bond.

“I grew up in a union family and to me, that meant you were part of something bigger than yourself,” Heath says in the opening scene of the 7-minute film. “When things got difficult you had others at your side.”

In one scene, Heath described meeting with Ramirez through a glass wall in the detention center and feeling helpless but also fired up with determination as she watched him try to make sense of his plight.

“That image is burned in my head of Alex sobbing with his hand on the glass,” Heath said.

“We don’t have words to say thank you to everybody that brought support for us,” a teary-eyed Ramirez says in the film. ”When I saw Mindy, I saw in her eye the power of the UUP union.”

UUP will continue to follow the case of these two fellow union members.