March 3rd, 2025 – It is abhorrent that Celal and Emine Emanet, despite their efforts to follow the legal pathways to residency through our country’s underfunded immigration system, were still targets of ICE persecution. Even more saddening is that it is not a surprise that some of the most hard working, charitable, and beloved members of our community aren’t immune to this administration’s attacks on immigrants. It is clear that our system is fundamentally evil when the arresting of the Emanets isn’t an egregious mistake of our law enforcement, but an intentional target of ICE’s mission.
Calel and Emine are not criminals. They do not belong in a cell.
What is indefensibly criminal is ICE’s continuing efforts to rip apart families for the sole sin of trying to exist in this country. Hundreds of community members, many of whom were directly touched by Celal and Emine’s contribution to South Jersey through their restaurant, have poured out to support them. Meanwhile, Emine still remains captive at an ICE facility. The people of Camden County are well aware that the only difference between many of them and the Emanets is what side of an arbitrary line they were born on. Yet to our government, they are unwelcome. The injustice experienced by these two individuals reflects a broader crisis within our immigration system—one that we know must be addressed with an unapologetic demand for change. ICE’s detentions and deportations of our fellow members of the working class must stop. We must fight for amnesty for the many valuable immigrant members of our community, those with whom we have a fundamental shared humanity regardless of any documentation. We must fight not just for Celal and Emine, but also for the thousands of others who suffer under our current system.
We cannot not be silent while our community members are unjustly imprisoned. We at SJDSA urge for Emine’s immediate release and for the Emanets’ application for permanent residency be expedited so they can return to their community without fear of further ICE harassment.
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