This browser does not support the Video element.
NJ officials meet with couple detained by ICE
The New Jersey woman detained by immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, or ICE, is home with her family. But the fight to keep her here in the United States continues.
HADDON TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Two weeks ago, ICE agents raided a Haddon Township restaurant and took a husband and wife out in handcuffs.
Both are back home, but their family says they still have a long way to go until the ordeal is over.
The backstory:
Celal and Emine Emanet, owners of Jersey Kebab in Haddon Township, were arrested on February 25, 2025 during an ICE raid.
Celal was released with an ankle monitor while Emine was sent to a detention center in Elizabeth.
She was released on bond March 12.
ICE raids family-owned restaurant in South Jersey, arrests owners
A community is showing a South Jersey family support after their beloved restaurant in Haddon Township, Jersey Kebab, got an unexpected visit from ICE officers.
What they're saying:
The Emanet family is overwhelmed by the love and support of family, friends and even strangers.
Emine said, "I’m so happy! They are my family and they all said welcome home and it touched my heart!"
Customer Steve Barton said, "You see it on the news, but you don’t think it could happen in somewhere where you live. You don’t think that you’d be impacted by it, but I’m so proud of this community."
System is broken:
Ever since they were detained, friends and customers of Jersey Kabob wrote letters on behalf of Celal and Emine to help keep them in this country.
They’ve been waiting for word on their green card application for years, in a system that state and local officials say is broken.
"There is a very real difference of a broken immigration system. The border issues we’ve seen down to the south and what we see behind us today – a huge difference," New Jersey Representative Donald Norcross stated.
Mayor Randall Teague said, "I hope there is and there should be a path to citizenship for them. These are the types of people that we want to have in our country and we should be able to have them legally in our country."
South Jersey family reunites with mother after ICE raids Jersey Kebab restaurant
South Jersey mother Emine Emanet has been released from a detention center in Elizabeth on bond after she and her husband were detained following an ICE raid on their family-owned business, Jersey Kebab.
Dig deeper:
The couple’s 25-year-old son, Muhammed has been shouldering most of the weight of the stressful situation and admits it hasn’t been easy, "It hasn’t been, I mean, to be honest, until you asked me, I don’t really think about how I feel. But, then you know, somebody asks you, like, ‘How are you doing?’ You just keep moving, day by day."
And, Emine couldn’t be more proud and then spoke a phrase in Turkish, to which Muhammed translated, loosely, saying, "She said as she was my age, she was always outgoing, very outspoken and not afraid to say anything and always being an independent young woman, so she’s like, ‘I see my genetics in him.’"
What's next:
Emine was supposed to be in court next week, but her husband’s case isn’t set for another month. Their attorney is trying to have both of them appear together so they can know their fate at the same time.