Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Zander Frost, Chonicle Staff Writer
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s seizing people it deems illegal immigrants came to Glens Falls last week as Yuriy Zinovyev was taken into custody by ICE after what his friend described as a routine immigration check-in.
As of Tuesday, an ICE database showed that Yuriy Zinovyev was “in ICE Custody” in Buffalo Federal Detention Facility. It listed Kazakhstan as his country of birth.
The detention of Mr. Zinovyev quickly spawned opposition and outrage.
An Indivisible ADK e-mail urged people to attend “an emergency protest for Yuriy Zinovyev” at the corner of Glen and Bay Streets on Thursday, June 5.
“Glens Falls resident Yuriy Zinovyev, a law-abiding neighbor with legal immigration status for 25+ years, was arrested at a routine court appearance and is now held by ICE, facing unjust deportation,” it said. “This is an outrage, and it’s happening right here in our community!”
The Chronicle initially did a quick Google search seeking information on Mr. Zinovyev.
The Saratogian reported arrests in 2016 and 2017 of a Yuriy Y. Zinovyev, whose age was consistent with the Mr. Zinovyev in federal custody.
In 2016, The Saratogian reported, Yuriy Y. Zinovyev, 39, was arrested at 2:25 a.m. in Saratoga Springs “and charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, misdemeanors.”
Then in 2017, it said Yuriy Y. Zinovyev was arrested for “driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, a felony.”
The Chronicle obtained State records that showed after the 2017 arrest, Yuriy Y. Zinovyev pled guilty in Halfmoon Town Court to two misdemeanor charges, DWI – 1st Offense, and “UM Agg Unlic Oper2- Previous Conv.”
A criminal history obtained from New York State shows that as part of the plea, Mr. Zinovyev had his “License Revoked.”
The Chronicle then did deeper research that revealed other legal issues.
In Bennington, Vermont in 2008, a Yuriy Y. Zinovyev was charged with operating a vehicle without a license. In 2009, a “suspension request was sent.”
Vermont state records say that the case, classified as a “Vermont Civil Violation,” was last updated on February 16, 2023, when it was “referred to collections.”
In 2022, a Yuriy Y. Zinovyev was charged with alleged “forcible touching and sexual abuse in the third degree,” Saratoga County Judge Chad W. Brown wrote in a ruling about the case.
The allegation was that Mr. Zinovyev “touched the complaintant’s vagina and her breast.”
According to documents submitted by the prosecution, Mr. Zinovyev was also alleged to have threatened a male by saying “I am going to kill you.”
The Chronicle has not been able to ascertain the outcome of the case, though a friend of Mr. Zinovyev said “the accuser was lying” and Mr. Zinovyev “finally won.”
The charges were at one point dismissed by Town of Saratoga Justice Daniel Waldron, citing prosecutorial communication delays in August 2022, only to be later reinstated.
The dismissal said “due to the considerable unjustifiable delays and the Constitutional issues raised by the Defendant regarding his right to a speedy trial, this Court has no choice at this juncture but to dismiss this case, with prejudice.”
The Town of Saratoga Court cited “receipt of an email communication…from ADA [Assistant District Attorney] Meghan Horton” in which she “states that she only recently discovered that there were renewed motions and responses in this matter and that she takes full responsibility and apologizes for the late filing.”
The Saratoga County District Attorney’s Office appealed and the charges were reinstated on April 28, 2023.
Saratoga County Judge Chad W. Brown, who reinstated the charges, wrote in part that the “Town Court never provided the people with sufficient notice that it was contemplating dismissal…on Consitutional speedy trial grounds.”
Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen did not provide The Chronicle with any update on the status of the case.
Igor Negelyov, of Albany, told The Chronicle that he is a friend of Mr. Zinovyev and brought him to the immigration check-in where he was taken into custody.
“He is a good person. He is very caring, and helping people, and intelligent,” Mr. Negelyov said.
He said Mr. Zinovyev has legal status in America, though he is not a citizen. He said Mr. Zinovyev lost his right to work last fall, but three months later, he got it back.
The Chronicle asked about the forcible touching and sexual abuse charges. Mr. Negelyov says the accuser was “lying.”
“He didn’t even touch her,” Mr. Negelyov told The Chronicle. “It was a long three years, but finally he won, because she was lying all the time.”
“Everything was on his side,” he said.
Of the driving license suspension, Mr. Negelyov estimated Mr. Zinovyev has been without a license for “maybe five years.”
“He’s going to get his license back in December. He’s not drinking, he’s not smoking, he’s not doing drugs.”
Mr. Negelyov said he drives Mr. Zinovyev to his immigration check-ins because he only has an “electric bicycle.”
He jokingly referred to himself as Mr. Zinovyev’s “designated driver.”
Among those issuing statements of concern about ICE’s detention of Mr. Zinovyev were Congressman Paul Tonko and Congressional hopeful Dylan Hewitt, whose statement may have been the strongest:
“Yuriy Zinovyev has followed the rules. He’s lived in Glens Falls legally for 25 years. He’s one of our own. And right now, he’s being denied the due process every person in this country is promised.”
The Chronicle asked Mr. Negelyov more about Mr. Zinovyev. He told The Chronicle that Mr. Zinovyev has lived in Glens Falls for “maybe three years,” moving to the area when he got a job at a catheter plant.
He says that Mr. Zinovyev is a hard, capable worker who “believes in God.”
“We worked together, that’s how we met,” he said. “He’s Russian speaking — you know it wasn’t too many Russian speaking around us at that factory.”
He said Mr. Zinovyev came to America around 25 years ago from his native Kazakhstan.
He said he attended a “foreign language university,” where he learned English.
He said Mr. Zinovyev was recruited to come to America to work at a summer camp, and then decided to stay.
Mr. Negelyov said Mr. Zinovyev learned to weld and also “worked with slate.”
Asked if Mr. Zinovyev had ever had trouble with immigration, Mr. Negelyov said, “I don’t think so. They always extended his permission to work, always. Except for the last time.”
He said Mr. Zinovyev had to report to the immigration officer every 12 months, until more recently with a new immigration officer he needed to check in every six months.
Mr. Negelyov said at some point, Mr. Zinovyev lost his right to work in the United States, costing him the catheter job. “He lost it last fall,” he said. “And then he applied for that again, and was waiting like for three months. Bureaucracy, you know.”
He said Mr. Zinovyev got the permission to work again and would soon start a job welding in Saratoga.
Mr. Negelyov said Mr. Zinovyev had “legal status” in the United States. With that right-to-work card, he said, “he can work in this country for the rest of his life.”
Mr. Negelyov noted, “He was a very good welder. Not a long time ago, he applied for SpaceX, in Texas.
“They got him a ticket, and he went there and he passed his welding test. But because he doesn’t have citizenship or green card, they didn’t hire him.”
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