Comunidad en Nueva Jersey apoya restaurante de familia turca tras redada – Chicago Tribune

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

COLLINGSWOOD, New Jersey, USA. (AP) — The shawarma, faláfel wraps and baklava at Jersey Kebab are great, but many of our customers are also in protest these days.

A New Jersey suburb near Filadelfia has released Turkish dues from the restaurant since federal agents left the country in February 2025 because, they said, their visas had expired.

Indeed, trade has been going well since Celal and Emine Emanet were arrested at the start of the Trump administration’s migratory offensive, which went to a larger space in the city of junto. Our usual customers are not imported.

The family went to the USA by busca de libertad

Celal Emanet, 52, first came to the United States in 2000 to learn English while studying for his doctorate in Islamic history at a university in Turkey. Regretted in 2008 for being an imán in a mezquita in southern New Jersey, sending Emine with his first two children. Dos más nacerían en Estados Unidos.

Soon after, this gave you an additional takeaway business at local eateries. Apply for permanent residency and make sure you are on your way to receiving your green cards.

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, idle re-share trucks Celal and Emine, who worked in restaurants in Turkey, opened Jersey Kebab in Haddon Township. Commerce is very good in principle.

Change everything in a moment

On February 25, 2025, federal court agents and Immigration and Youth Enforcement (ICE) arrested the restaurant parent. This was sent home with a tobacco monitor, but Emine, 47 years ago, was tracked to the detention center more than an hour away and it lasted 15 days.

With the main kitchen detained and the family in crisis, the house temporarily collapsed.

Although the region is predominantly Democratic, the Emanets’ detention has signaled in many places that President Donald Trump’s second-term migration offensive is not only at odds with criminal records.

“There are no dangerous people, no type of people that we decide on television to look for in our country,” said Haddon Township Alcalde Randy Teague.

Supporters organize a vigil and raise $300,000 to keep the family and business afloat while the store is closed, and pay legal bills. Members of Congress help and customers write apoyo cards.

Space for a multitude

As word spread of the family’s difficult situation, new and old customers began to come to the restaurant. The family was moved to a larger space on Haddon Avenue in Collingswood at the end of the year.

Add a decision menu and for the first time you have to hire men, as well as your son Muhammed.

The location has changed, but the restaurant now features a cartel on sale that offers free meals to those needed. He is a man of valor who honors the one who “takes care of everything that is least important to us,” Muhammed said.

Judy Kubit and Linda Rey, two friends from the nearby communities of Medford and Columbus, respectively decided to come to Haddon Township last year for an anti-Trump “No Kings” protest and get along after the protest at the local kebab joint.

“We believe that we must enter alone to show our solidarity with all good,” Kubit said.

That day, with the migratory offensive from Minneapolis dominating the incumbents, she established herself in the new premises to help him.

The legal battle has not ended

Emanet desperately wants to go to the United States, where he has built a life and created his family.

This had a deportation hearing in March, and Emine and Muhammed also had hearings at one point.

That said, returning to Turkey will be bad for our minor children. No one is Turkish, one man is autistic and needs help available in the United States.

Additionally, he is concerned about his own safety due to his academic papers. “I am in opposition to the Turkish government,” he said. “If I deport, I will have a very big problem.”

The apoyo masivo showed the family that there are no solos.

“We have earned our right from those in the country,” said Muhammed Emanet, “so we have incredible support for the community. So we are all together in this community.”

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This story was translated into English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.