On the morning of August 7, Omar—a cook at Maplewood’s Perla Oyster Bar—was detained by federal ICE agents. An immigrant from Peru, Omar was in the process of obtaining full citizenship, following the lawful steps to get there. He was recently given a valid Social Security number, and paid taxes like any other worker on the books does.
Back in June, Leo Argoti Rubio—a pastry chef at Montclair’s Fauborg and Bijoux—was taken by ICE agents. The chef, who had a valid work Visa and Social Security number, was later released from wrongful detention after more than 10 days.
In February 2025, ICE arrested Celal and Emine Emanet at their Collingswood restaurant, Jersey Kebab. Originally from Turkey, they had been awaiting a decision on their green card applications since 2016. Authorities released Celal with an ankle monitor later that day, while Emine remained detained in an Elizabeth detention center until March. More recently, their son Muhammed—an outspoken advocate for the immigrant community—reportedly faces his own deportation battle.
Delaney Hall—the controversial immigration detention center in Newark—has been enveloped by protestors of all political stripes and cultural backgrounds ever since a hunger strike broke out in early June. This past week, a Delaney Hall detainee named Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died in detention, prompting calls for the private facility’s closure by Governor Mikie Sherrill and other New Jersey leaders.
Across the state, countless other immigrants—both legal and undocumented—have been detained in cases we never hear about. Some are later released, others are whisked away to their country of origin, or sometimes to nations they have no connection to at all—a process known as third-country removals.
It’s all a part of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration. Donald Trump, who was elected to his second term in the White House on a platform of “MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW,” promised to do just that. Now, we are seeing what that looks like in practice: families ripped apart, communities on edge, and small businesses left to pick up the pieces after their tax-paying employees are snatched up without warning.
As a restaurant writer—and a cook, server, and bartender before that—I refuse to remain silent about these injustices any longer. I refuse to stand by idly as the restaurant industry is torn apart at the seams. But more than that, I refuse to normalize this anti-American attitude—the eroding of due process in favor of nationalism and blood-and-soil politics.
It’s past time that members of the New Jersey restaurant scene speak out, before the industry looks like a shell of itself. Before more innocent lives are upended. And before businesses close because of it. There is a justified fear that advocacy will lead to retribution. I fully grasp and empathize with that mindset. However, I believe we’re standing at a precipice. What happens next requires those of us with the privilege to speak out to do so.
Let’s be frank for a moment: the restaurant industry will not survive without immigrants. Hard-working, America-loving immigrants make up the base of restaurants, agriculture, food production, and more throughout the Garden State.
It is a human rights issue first and foremost. But, if human beings aren’t enough to move NJ restaurant owners and chefs who rely on immigrants as the fuel for their businesses, then maybe the numbers will. It might not show now, but if we maintain this policy of detainment and deportation, restaurants will lose money. They will close. The reality of these wretched politics are untenable for society as we know it.
New Jersey is multi-cultural. New Jersey is dense. And whether it’s the Italian immigrants of the early 20th Century, or the Latin immigrants who came soon thereafter, New Jersey has always—and will always—be made better by the tens of thousands that come here from foreign countries to contribute to our communities.
This is not about who you voted for or what party you support. It’s about recognizing a policy that is an affront to the American way of life. America was built by immigrants, and it is that very fact that has allowed it to thrive into one of the most prosperous nations in the world.
The administration’s defenders will say this isn’t about cruelty, it’s about the rule of law—that legal status matters regardless of how hard someone works or how long they’ve paid taxes, and that enforcement has to start somewhere. But these claims don’t survive contact with what’s actually happening on the ground. A pastry chef with a valid work visa detained for ten days. Green card applicants who’ve been in the system since 2016, arrested at their own restaurant. These aren’t edge cases. They’re proof the enforcement itself is indiscriminate, and a violation of our rights.
Whether you are a working member of the New Jersey restaurant industry, or someone who just enjoys dining at any of the state’s incredible eateries, we can no longer tolerate the cowardice of silence, nor the privilege of ignorance. “Out of sight, out of mind” no longer cuts it as an excuse. A fatal threat to our communities, businesses, and food supply is here in New Jersey, and its name is ICE.
If you think it doesn’t affect you as a restaurant owner or as a chef, you are mistaken. It will affect you when your employees don’t show up to work. It will affect you when farms can’t keep up with demand and shipments are late. It will affect you when customers thin out as more and more are afraid to leave their homes.
I love New Jersey restaurants with all my heart. I have devoted a majority of my career toward them. I refuse to be silent on this grave injustice, and I call on all members of the New Jersey restaurant industry—and the New Jersey food media—to do the same.
At the direction of the Trump administration, ICE has proven it is not up to the task of humane immigration enforcement. The agency has shown zero signs of cleaning up its work—instead sticking to mass deportations, by any means necessary. Therefore, We must speak up now, before it’s too late.
I’ll start. Get ICE out of New Jersey.
Peter Candia is the Food + Drink Editor at New Jersey Digest. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Peter found a passion for writing midway through school and never looked back. He is a former line cook, server and bartender at top-rated restaurants in the tri-state area. In addition to food, Peter enjoys politics, music, sports and anything New Jersey.
