These people desperately need our help: https://gofund.me/56f43a4f
Here is their story:
ICE took these wonderfully kind owners of Jersey Kebab yesterday, a local business and my favorite restaurant, my friends. This sign is in their window, and shows how they always help anyone who needs it. We need to help them! Here’s what happened:
During the morning hours of Tuesday, February 25, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warrantlessly picked up members of the Emanet family, Celal and Emine Emanet, from Jersey Kebab, located at 150 Haddon Avenue, Haddon Township, NJ 08108.
The Emanet family has an open case with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and has been waiting since 2016 for a decision on their case. USCIS has not decided whether to approve or deny their green card application for the past 9 years. While waiting for their case to be decided upon, Celal and Emine Emanet were left without a status.
They are contributing members of society and taxpayers with a five-year valid business license. Celal and Emine own and operate Jersey Kebab, a beloved Mediterranean restaurant across from the Haddon Township Municipality and Police building. The husband-and-wife pair own and manage the restaurant together, a hub for the community, and regularly feed underprivileged members of the community – the sign on the door stating, “Free to anyone with a disability, homeless, or simply cannot afford it.” The couple start prep work together at 9 am and close up shop at 8:30 pm.
At the end of the night, Celal and Emine come back home where they live with their four children (Muhammed, Zeynep, Hamza, Hale), daughter-in-law (Hale), two grandchildren (Ali and Omer), and two cats (Oreo and Almond). Muhammed (25), the manager at Jersey Kebab, a graduate of Rutgers-Camden, is a husband and father to two children. Zeynep (23) is a Swarthmore College graduate and works at a local civil rights nonprofit organization. Their younger son, Hamza (15), and younger daughter, Hale (13), cannot imagine life without mom and dad together.
While Celal has been released from custody with an ankle monitor, Emine has been placed into the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, awaiting her bond trial. This situation is especially devastating for their 15-year-old son, Hamza, who has autism.
Deporting Emine would cause Hamza immense distress, as he only speaks limited Turkish and relies on the specialized services available to him here in New Jersey. Uprooting him from this support system would have severe consequences for his well-being.
Emine is not a flight risk – she is a mother, community member, and neighbor. Neither Celal nor Emine have criminal records or prior orders of removal by an immigration judge. She needs to be released on bond so she can return home. Until she is released, the restaurant, which is their main source of income, is closed. So please help out any way you can.
Advertisement
5 Responses
This is right across the river from where I live in Philadelphia, PA: Local news report: https://6abc.com/post/new-jersey-community-raises-thousands-dollars-couple-detained-ice-raid/15957487/
Up to $120,000 so far – not sure how it works, as in, are all pledges collected? If so, perhaps others in a similar situation could be helped as well.
Thanks for bringing this to the attention of a wider audience.
“USCIS has not decided whether to approve or deny their green card application for the past 9 years. While waiting for their case to be decided upon, Celal and Emine Emanet were left without a status.”
So in other words, Biden did nothing for them while he was President.
Note that your Cult, bereft of ideas or virtue–like Satan–can never even say, “I’m as good as you” and can always only lyingly accuse–like Satan–“You’re as bad as me.” You would have a devastating point if I was trying to argue that Biden was some paragon of perfection. But I’m not. What I’m interested in–and what you and your evil Cult of Depravity, Death, and Nihilist Power give not one shit about–is the people in this story who need help and who are being persecuted by you and your evil cult. Focus. The issue is these people, not your filthy power struggles and apologetics for cruelty.
If they had $5 million for a “gold card” they could go to the head of the line. Government of, by and for the rich. Interesting that so many Evangelicals and Right Wing Catholics are fine with this favoring of the rich and sticking it to the poor.
Genuine question: Wasn’t there a fast track to immigration already present in the past where if you invested at least $1 million in USA, you would be granted a work visa and fast tracked to a green card?
If that was the case, then the only thing Trump did was up the price and present it like an idiot that he is. (I am well aware that he added that Russians are welcome, too, if they bring money, so that’s another thing where USA wouldn’t accept just any foreign investment, now it’s plain bribery.)