After ICE arrested another beloved restaurant owner, this South Jersey community is rallying for his freedom

Iemad Saifo, a beloved father and restaurant owner in Collingswood, New Jersey, faces a bond hearing Friday after being taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Since being taken into custody July 31, he has been held at Delaney Hall, a privately run immigrant detention center in Newark, New Jersey.

His daughter, Zena Saifo, has been distressed knowing her father, who has several health issues, is being held at the facility that has been the site of protests over the treatment of detainees.

“We’ve been seeing on the news that I think three detainees have died because of medical emergencies,” Zena Saifo said. “My biggest concern is just imagining what conditions he may be subjected to.”

Nationwide, more than 50 people have died in ICE ​custody since President Donald Trump took office last year. ICE says detainees are given appropriate medical care.

Iemad Saifo was on the path toward obtaining legal status

The Saifo family first came to New Jersey on a B-1/B-2 visa from Syria in 2002.

In addition to Zena Saifo, Iemad Saifo brought his wife, Zena’s mother, and younger brother. Seeking to create a better life for his children, he pursued every legal avenue to stay in the country.

The family had settled in the Oaklyn-Collingswood area. Zena Saifo has two additional brothers who were born in New Jersey. With the exception of her youngest brother, currently attending middle school, all of the siblings are graduates of Collingswood High School.

“We’ve been really embedded into the community, and this has been our whole lives,” Zena Saifo said.

Iemad Saifo sought permanent legal status through her brother, according to Zena Saifo, who said the first part of the application was granted recently.

“The last time he had a hearing, his lawyers and judge assured him he was doing everything he was supposed to do,” she said. “That’s why it was also a huge shock when he was actually detained.”

ICE takes Iemad Saifo into custody

The family was confused when a notice from ICE ordered Iemad Saifo to report to their Mount Laurel office July 31. Zena Saifo said no further details were given in the letter.

“Immediately we prompted our lawyers, we told them this, and we started talking about the possibilities,” she said. “We didn’t want to be naive. We see what’s happening in this country. We see how many people are being detained by ICE and how there’s this attack on immigrants right now.”

They arrived at the ICE office at 7:30 that morning with their lawyer, according to Zena Saifo. It would be at least four hours before Iemad Saifo was taken to a back area. Zena Saifo said she was not permitted to go with her father, but their lawyer was. The lawyer returned to Zena Saifo to inform her that her father was detained. Zena Saifo said she broke down at that moment.

“I knew it was a possibility, but just hearing that from someone and seeing it happen in front of you or seeing the steps leading up to it was just so, so horrific,” Zena Saifo said, further describing the moment as “cruel” after not being allowed to speak to Iemad Zaifo. “I pleaded with [the ICE officer,] ‘Please, I just want to say bye. I don’t know when I’m going to see him. I just want to say bye to my father.’ And the ICE officer was like, ‘No, you can’t. We already took him. He’s in the back.’”

A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department said in an email that Saifo refused to leave the country in May 2002, when his visa expired.

“[Iemad Saifo] was ordered removed by an immigration judge in September 2010. An immigration judge reopened the case in January 2011, and in February 2023, an immigration judge administratively closed his removal case,” the spokesperson wrote, also referring to a 2019 conviction for witness tampering.

According to online court records, Iemad Saifo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and was ordered to pay a fine and restitution.

Further questions about whether they were aware of Iemad Saifo’s proceedings were referred to Homeland Security.

Zena Saifo is reserving her response to the department’s statement until after her father’s bail hearing.

Recent stories about deaths at Delaney Hall are a cause for concern for Zena Saifo because her 65-year-old father suffers from several chronic health problems, including third-stage kidney disease and spasmodic dysphonia, a vocal condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms of the voice box.

“Even when I talk to him on the phone, it’s really hard to communicate with him because he can’t really speak a lot of times,” she said. “My other concern is [whether] he is able to voice his needs because of the voice condition on top of the language barrier.”

Collingswood rallies around Iemad Saifo

Later that day, Zena Saifo and her family went to Jersey Kebab, which opened in Collingswood in the last year. The family that owns the restaurant has been fighting off deportation for more than a year.

Muhammed Emanet, the owner’s son, said the Saifo family came at the peak of the dinner rush.

“I see them come in, and they looked very distressed,” Emanet said. “Immediately they were like, ‘Mohammed, can we talk to you about something private?’”

Emanet took the Saifo family to the restaurant’s party room to discuss what happened to their father.

“As I heard that, my jaw dropped,” Emanet added. “I couldn’t believe it because their father’s an elderly man.”

Zena Saifo said Emanet was ready to support the family.

“From the start, he was so kind, so supportive,” she said. “We’ve been in communication every single day; he’s asked what we needed, he’s connected us with folks in the community.”

The Collingswood community has also stood behind the Saifo family. A letter-writing campaign and a fundraiser to pay for legal fees have been organized. Cooper River Indivisible, a grassroots community group, posted heart-shaped support notes on the window of the restaurant Iemad Saifo opened in 2011, Zena’s American Mediterranean Cuisine, named for his daughter.

Collingswood Mayor Daniela Solano-Ward said the borough is trying to follow best practices when collecting statements on behalf of the family, making sure they are notarized and turned over to the family. She called the situation “heart-wrenching.”

“It’s one thing to read the news and hear the stories; it’s entirely another to see hard-working members of your own community … targeted in this way,” she wrote in an email, adding that Iemad Saifo’s restaurant has provided stability to a section of Collingswood.

“He has trusted Collingswood to host his business and educate his children, and we’re doing all we can to repay that by supporting him and his family during this most trying time,” the mayor added.

Zena Saifo said the rest of her family — her mom and four younger brothers — have legal status but are concerned about their future amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

“Folks in this community, like longtime members who are born in the U.S., who grew up here, have been telling me no one is excluded from these policies at this point,” she said. “There’s so much unknown about the future, and we are seeing these huge crackdowns on immigrants and people that have done what they’re supposed to do.”