Jersey Kebab in Haddon Township, New Jersey, is set to reopen this week more than a month after the restaurant’s owners Emine and Celal Emanet were detained by ICE. The owners held a celebration on Sunday to thank the community for their continued support and commemorate the end of Ramadan. NBC10’s Siobhan McGirl has the story.
The owners of a New Jersey restaurant held a community celebration and are set to officially reopen their business more than a month after they were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On Sunday, March 30, 2025, Emine and Celal Emanet held a celebration in Haddon Township, New Jersey, and served food to show their gratitude for their community’s support and to also mark the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.
“We are a small business,” Emine Emanet said. “You know everywhere is small. But we have a big heart for all of everybody.”
The couple’s restaurant, Jersey Kebab, officially reopens on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
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“I’ve been missing them,” Steve Barton, a Haddon Township resident, told NBC10. “They’ve been sorely missed throughout this entire ordeal.”
Emine and Celal Emanet
The restaurant – located on 150 Haddon Avenue – has been closed since Feb. 25, 2025, when ICE officers raided the business and arrested Emine and Celal Emanet. An ICE spokesperson said the two Turkish citizens were in the United States illegally. While Celal Emanet was released from custody with an ankle monitor, Emine Emanet remained in custody at an ICE detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for two weeks.
Immigration attorney Joseph Best told NBC10 the couple moved to the United States from Turkey in 2008 on a religious visa. According to Camden County officials, Celal Emanet applied for a green card before the visa expired. Emanet said his application was denied three times and the couple has been in limbo since 2016.
During Emine Emanet’s detainment, the couple received support from both New Jersey leaders as well as community members. During a press conference in late February after their arrest, Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague described the couple’s restaurant as a “pillar” in the community.
“We consider this situation maybe somewhat different than some of the other ones that we hear on TV where there’s criminals and rapists and so forth coming into our country,” Mayor Teague said. “They came in here legally and they’re trying to stay here legally.”
Teague also said the family has participated in Toys for Tots drives and organized food drives that have “left a lasting impact” on the area.
The couple's arrest occurred amid a nationwide push from President Donald Trump’s administration to detain immigrants who entered the United States without the proper documents.
“This family is a family that embodies the very best of Camden County. And now they’re torn apart by this broken immigration system,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said in February. “It is time to stand up for good people. It is time to stand up for humanity. These folks do not deserve this. These folks do not deserve this. Fix the immigration system and let’s fix it now.”
Haddon Township residents also donated more than $327,000 to a GoFundMe in support of the family.
On Tuesday, March 11, a judge set a $7500 bond for Emine Emanet’s release. She was released and reunited with her family the next day after the nonprofit Envision Freedom Fund successfully posted the bond.
While the family is back in business, their legal battle continues.
“We have to prove ourselves,” Celal Emanet said on Sunday. “We are here. We have business. We’re regular people. We don’t have a criminal record. We pay our taxes so I hope they are going to accept it.”
Community members who attended Sunday’s celebration said they will continue to support them.
“They never let us down,” Barton said. “We are not going to let them down.”
The couple’s next court date is scheduled for the end of May 2025.
