ICE Detains Restaurant Owner In South Jersey

COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — A Collingswood restaurant owner is being held at Delaney Hall in Newark after he was taken into custody on Friday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the business shared on Facebook.

Iemad Saifo, 65, who runs "Zena's American Mediterranean Cuisine," arrived from Syria in 2002 on a B1/B2 visa and "has been following proper legal procedures," his daughter, who along with her mother and three siblings have all become citizens, said.

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Saifo's son, Tarek, spoke to PHL 17 on what he said is a questionable system after his father was called in to a routine immigration check in Mount Laurel and taken away.

"People are taking the legal pathways, and it doesn't matter because one day they could just decide to pick you up," said Tarek.

A petition for his release called on the ICE Newark Field Office to act after they left "a family torn apart, a son left without his caregiver, and a community stripped of one of its own valued business owners."

Cooper River Indivisible, an advocacy group that has organized demonstrations around South Jersey against the operations of ICE, called Saifo being taken into custody part of "the daily horrors of ICE abductions."

Delaney Hall History

On Saturday, another detainee died in federal custody after being taken from Delaney Hall to a hospital nearby.

Family said Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, a father and resident in the United States for nearly 20 years with a valid work permit, had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and seizures that required medication.

While his official cause of death is yet to be released, ICE claimed Cornejo was given adequate medical care.

Still, groups like the ACLU of New Jersey are crying out in the wake of the death to bring added awareness to the "inhumane conditions" with a "routine denial of proper medical care, sanitary conditions, and food."

READ MORE: Another NJ Immigrant Detainee Has Died In ICE Custody: What We Know (UPDATED)

In 2025, another detainee died at Delaney in what federal authorities believed was due to "natural causes."

The facility has been at the center of turmoil since it began holding ICE detainees again under the Trump administration, including allegations of poor treatment, federal charges against the city's mayor and a U.S. congresswoman, and a high-profile prison escape.

Hundreds of detainees launched a hunger and labor strike at the prison in May. Detainees alleged they are facing "inhumane" conditions, such as a lack of medical care, bad food and an unfair court system.

Federal authorities and prison spokespeople have repeatedly denied the allegations of mistreatment at Delaney Hall.

A Homeland Security spokesperson previously told Patch that the health care at Delaney Hall is "the best many aliens have received in their entire lives," pointing to mandatory assessments for new arrivals, access to "24-hour emergency care" and meals that are "certified by dieticians."

Patch has reached out to ICE officials for more on the detainment of Saifo and his current status, and is yet to hear back.

MORE FROM PATCH: 'I Was Violently Attacked By ICE Agents,' NJ Nurse Claims

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