NEWARK, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A Haddon Township man will have to wait four years for his next day in court. The co-owner of Jersey Kebab made his case against being deported and a Newark court has scheduled his hearing for April 10, 2029.
In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seized Celal Emanet and his wife, Emine, both Turkish emigres and the owners of Jersey Kebab. The couple, who have been in the U.S. nearly 20 years, have since been released while their separate cases move through the system.
Emanet was in Newark for a court hearing Tuesday with his eldest son, Muhammad. He and his family were hoping to get answers sooner. “We wanted everything to be done and over with but that's clearly not what happened today, so we’re still kind of in the same limbo state until that date,” he told KYW Newsradio.
“They’re a very big part of the community and they want their day in court,” said their attorney, Joseph Best of Best Law Associates.
“These initial preliminary hearings are called master calendar hearings, and they are to establish whether or not the person before the judge is, in fact, removable as charged.”
Best wasn’t surprised by the four-year waiting period. “That is the earliest date that was available and that will provide time, obviously, to prepare,” he said, “but it's also a measure of how incredibly backed up the immigration system is.”
Muhammad said he isn’t surprised either to see the case stuck in limbo.
“My hearing started back in 2020 and my court date for deportation is actually Aug. 8, now of 2025,” he said. “When I had first turned 21 I got picked up, just like how my parents were picked up by ICE … they came to our house at five in the morning and grabbed me in my underwear, and I was still a senior in college at that time.”
Still, Muhammad said there are benefits to the delay. “If it was dealt with right away, then you know, we'd be able to apply for our permanent residencies and all that,” he said.
“But it's a minor relief … because the status is about to be changed, we'll be able to apply for a work permit finally. So after spending nearly 20 years in America, we'll finally be able to get social security numbers, get health benefits and anything else that we were missing for the last 20 years.”
Emanet, who is also an imam at his mosque, is scheduled to meet with ICE agents on Friday. His family hopes that he’ll get his ankle bracelet removed. “Hopefully,” said Muhammad, “we'll be able to get his ankle bracelet off and he'll be able to go up to a sermon without that thing clinging on to his neck, or his ankle.”