Iemad Saifo, a 65-year-old Syrian-born chef who owns Zena's American Mediterranean Cuisine and Catering in Collingswood, New Jersey, was detained by ICE on July 31 at their Mt. Laurel office during what he believed was a routine check-in, despite having a pending immigration case with a December court date. Saifo came to the U.S. with his family on a B1/B2 visa from Syria in 2002, is the primary caregiver for his son with autism, and suffers from several chronic health conditions including a rare neurological condition and kidney disease. His wife and four children are U.S. citizens, and a residency petition filed by his U.S. citizen son had cleared its first approval stage. He was held at Delaney Hall, a privately run detention facility in Newark that has been the site of protests over detainee treatment, prompting his daughter Zena, for whom the restaurant is named, to voice concern over reports of detainee deaths there. His attorneys filed an emergency habeas petition, after which a federal judge barred ICE from transferring him out of state. A petition supporting him gathered more than 12,500 signatures, with support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and over 150 notarized letters from community members. An immigration judge later granted bond and he was released, with his daughter saying, 'We are so relieved to have him safely back home as the immigration process continues.'