Syracuse, N.Y. ― Mohamed Fofana was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers near his home in Syracuse’s Hawley-Greene neighborhood on Nov. 11.Fofana, 22, spent seven months in detention centers in Batavia and Texas, where at one point his lawyer couldn’t reach him for over a month. In May, an immigration judge ordered Fofana be deported back to his home country of Guinea.But after a federal judge ordered the immigration court to release him while his appeal was pending, Fofana was released and arrived back in Syracuse on June 7.“I didn’t believe I would come back again,” Fofana told reporters at a news conference Thursday held by CSEA Local 615. The union represents workers at Upstate University Hospital where Fofana works.“I am so happy to see everybody,” he said.Fofana said his arrest in November came as a surprise. He regularly attended his scheduled immigration appointments after he came to the United States seeking asylum, he said.Before coming to the United States, Fofana had completed nursing school in Guinea and had worked in a hospital emergency room.“They told me to go to their office every three months,” he said. “I respected every condition they gave me.”Just 10 days after he was arrested, Fofana was transferred to the La Salle County Regional Detention Center in Encinal, Texas, he said.Fofana said he kept his spirits up in the detention center by befriending other detainees, including people from Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq.Fofana, who is Muslim, said some of his fellow inmates shared his religious background and encouraged him to stay steadfast with his faith.He prayed several times a day while in detention.“I asked, ‘Allah, my God, help me to live here,’” Fofana said.When he told officers at the Texas detention center that his faith restricted him from eating pork, Fofana said they fed him only vegetables.He said he had an illness during his time in detention which, despite medicine given to him by staff, would not fully go away.“After two weeks, the same symptoms came back again,” he said.So, he had to get creative.“I made my own decision to put water in the microwave for six minutes every day,” which Fofana said was a form of “natural medicine” that worked for him.Fofana said phone calls with family, friends, his union and his lawyer helped him stay hopeful that he would be freed.His cousin broke the news over the phone that he would be able to come home to Central New York, he said.“He said, ‘your lawyer called me,’ and I said ‘Alhamdulillah, what is it?’” Fofana said. “He said, ‘they guaranteed your habeas corpus.’”“Then, I cried,” Fofana said.Fofana was the third Upstate University Hospital worker to be detained by ICE since the Trump administration began ramping up its deportation efforts last year. A fourth Upstate worker was detained Wednesday. Alcibiades “Alex” Lazaro Ramirez Gonzalez and Yannier “Yan” Vazquez Hidalgo were detained in October. The men were released on bond in February and returned to their hospital work and their home in North Syracuse. The men, who are a married couple, are also appealing a deportation order. They are from Cuba, but have been ordered to be deported to Ecuador.On Wednesday, 33-year-old Dame Ka was detained by ICE agents at the Syracuse airport as he traveled to a World Cup game. He later was released with an ankle monitor. He is scheduled to meet with agents in the ICE office in Mattydale on July 1.Ka, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, came to the United States seeking asylum from his home country of Senegal.Dame Ka (left) and Mohamed Fofana (right) are two of the four Upstate University Hospital workers who have been detained by ICE. Fofana spent seven months in detention before he was released and arrived in Syracuse on June 7. Ka was released immediately, but has to wear an ankle monitor before he meets with ICE agents for an appointment on July 1.Vince GaspariniFirefighters, bystander rescue a child and an adult from Syracuse house fire (video) Man fatally shot outside Parkside Commons, police sayBody found in Skaneateles Creek; no foul play suspected, deputies sayWestcott Theater’s permitting troubles continue: Syracuse police shut down another eventOneida County man run over by bulldozer at landfill gets airlifted to Syracuse hospital