‘Pray for us, pray for us,’ pleads South Jersey restaurant owner arrested by ICE with his wife
"The entire area feels so bad and awful that this could happen to such good people,” said Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague, standing with other South Jersey leaders in denouncing the arrests.
South Jersey elected leaders stood up for the Turkish immigrant owners of a popular Haddon Township restaurant on Thursday, holding a news conference outside of Jersey Kebab to denounce the couple’s arrest by ICE agents.
“Pray for us, pray for us,” implored eatery owner Celal Emanet, 51, who was released from ICE custody late Tuesday after being fitted with an electronic ankle monitor. His wife, Emine, 47, continues to be held at a detention center in Elizabeth, N.J.
Meanwhile, the fund-raising effort to support the family surpassed $250,000 on Thursday. The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the arrests and called for Emine Emanet’s immediate release, as did the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.
In a gray drizzle Thursday afternoon that mirrored the dark interior of the shuttered restaurant, Celal Emanet described himself as depressed as he took questions from news reporters.
He had not been able to speak with his wife on Thursday, Emanet said, and he remained concerned about her welfare. She speaks limited English and has never even been in a courtroom or been approached by a police officer, much less locked in a jail, he said.
Their son, restaurant manager Muhammed Emanet, said an immigration hearing at which he hopes bail could be set, and his mother released, is likely weeks away.
» READ MORE: Neighbors angry as ICE arrests owners of popular Jersey Kebab restaurant in South Jersey
On Friday afternoon ICE officials in Newark released a statement on the couple’s arrest.
“ICE administratively arrested two Turkish citizens, Emine and Celal Emanet, who are present in the United States illegally. ICE authority under Title 8 of the U.S. Code enables the agency to investigate and enforce immigration laws, particularly in cases where immigration violations intersect with national security, public safety and transnational crime. The Emanets were served a notice to appear before an immigration judge and place[d] in removal proceedings,” the statement read.
“Emine Emanet remains in ICE custody and Celal Emanet is on an Alternative to Detention (ATD), each pending removal proceedings. ICE’s ATD program, which began in 2004, uses technology and case management to ensure alien compliance with release conditions, court hearings and final orders of removal.”
“... As with any noncitizen in the United States without lawful status, ICE officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis to focus on the greatest threats to homeland security in a professional and responsible manner informed by their experience as law enforcement officers. Per ICE policy, we will not discuss active or ongoing investigations. ICE is also unable to provide any information on the individuals detained due to privacy issues,” the statement said.
ICE has about 42,000 people currently detained and electronically monitors nearly five times that number, according to government statistics. Under the agency’s ADT program that allowed Celal Emanet to be released, about 188,302 individuals and families are allowed to live freely while being tracked through technological facial matching, telephone check-ins, and wrist-and-ankle-worn devices.
Celal and Emine Emanet entered the United States legally in 2008, but fell out of status when their visas expired. Anyone who is in the United States without legal authority can be arrested and deported at any time. The family says it has continually sought legal permanent residency but was denied at least three times, and has been waiting nine years for a government decision on its most recent application.
“We couldn’t ask for better people to be in our community,” Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague told a crowd of about 25 supporters, activists, and news reporters at Thursday’s press conference. “The entire area feels so bad and awful that this could happen to such good people.”
Teague and other elected officials who spoke, all Democrats, said they have reached out to New Jersey’s federal office-holders, who were trying to help.
Representatives from Cooper River Indivisible, an activist group, plan to hold a vigil outside the restaurant at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. As political leaders gathered on Thursday, group members taped paper hearts to the restaurant windows, each bearing a written message of support.
Camden County Commissioner-Director Louis Cappelli Jr. called the couple’s arrest “outrageous” and said, “We take it as a personal attack on all of us.”
”These folks do not deserve this,” he said. “These are good people. … If you’re hungry and you have no money, you come to this restaurant and you’re taken care of.”
Jersey Kebab is closed indefinitely.
ICE agents and federal marshals arrived at the restaurant at mid-morning Tuesday, putting Celal and Emine Emanet in handcuffs and taking them away, according to son Muhammed, 25, who arrived for work as the arrests were taking place.
On Thursday he told the crowd how the family came to this country as strangers, knowing no one. Operating the restaurant changed that.
”Our family, which is our customers, are now truly our family, because they are seeing our deepest burdens,” he said.
As he spoke, someone shouted from the crowd, “We’re standing with you!”
Muhammed Emanet said his father is a highly educated religious scholar and came to the United States after being invited to serve as an imam at a local mosque.
“My dad, he’s never gotten a parking ticket,” he said earlier this week. “Now he’s walking around with an ankle monitor on his ankle, like he’s a criminal.”
The family entered the United States legally, entering on an R1 visa, Camden County officials said in a news release. That visa allows foreign nationals to temporarily come to the U.S. to work as ministers or to perform other types of religious jobs.
Celal Emanet applied for legal permanent residency, what’s known as a green card, before the visa expired. The applications were denied for reasons that were not immediately known, and the family’s most recent application has been pending since 2016, the family said.
The arrests on Haddon Avenue, a main street that cuts across Camden County, come as the Trump administration pushes to carry out what it says will be the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. Most Americans support Trump’s view, with majorities saying in polls that people here without legal permission should be sent out.
Critics maintain that while ICE says it is targeting dangerous, criminal immigrants, it often arrests people who pose no risk to the communities in which they live. Observers say the pressure for arrests and the insurmountable numbers — ICE employs about 20,000, while 13.7 million are undocumented — causes the agency to act against migrants whose only offense is being here without permission.
In a statement on Thursday, CAIR-New Jersey Executive Director Selaedin Maksut called the restaurant arrests “an attack on a family that has contributed positively to their local community.”
“Here is yet another example of gross misconduct by ICE — disrupting the lives of law-abiding immigrants who have been waiting for years for their green card. New Jersey families and communities are being torn apart. It’s unjust and dehumanizing.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated Friday afternoon to include a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.