ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, N.J. — Ruperto Vicens, a chef and co-owner of a popular Mexican restaurant here, was released from Newark Delaney Hall Detention Center Nov. 18, following a campaign on his behalf that included rallies in this town of some 4,500 people and at Delaney Hall. He’d been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents a month earlier.
Vicens is originally from Mexico. He spoke to Militant worker-correspondents about his fight at his restaurant, Zoe’s Emilio’s Kitchen, Nov. 30.
On the day of his arrest, Vicens said, he’d noticed two unmarked cars following him for several blocks as he drove to work along with two other workers. When he was pulled over, the two were arrested. Vicens showed his ID and work permit. The ICE agents claimed there were “problems” with them and arrested him.
The detention center “was overcrowded and chaotic. I was expecting to see only Latinos in the lockup but there were people from all over, including China and Japan.”
He described the indignities detainees faced in the cramped cell he shared with 13 others.
When toilets got clogged and drains were backed up it could take days for them to be fixed. Detainees were allowed to use the phone for just three minutes for free, but after that the call cost money, he said. There was one phone in the cell but it didn’t always work and sometimes there was so much noise you couldn’t hear what was said.
At mealtimes you couldn’t be barefoot. “Something had to be on your feet, flip-flops, or even just socks,” he said. But there was a shortage of these items for detainees to wear.
At one point, authorities said they were going to move Vicens to another facility. He told guards that he had a judge’s order to prevent his removal, but they insisted ICE orders took precedence.
Along with other detainees waiting to be moved, he was shackled on his wrists and ankles, he said. They were given pieces of bread with packets of peanut butter and jelly, an apple and a small bottle of water for breakfast, and left to figure out how to make a sandwich while chained up. At the last minute he was pulled out of the line and returned to his cell.
Under these conditions, he said, detainees found ways to offer each other solidarity, sharing food and resources.
“I was lucky to have community support and a lawyer,” he said. In addition to the rallies held to demand his release, Vicens received some 50 letters of support, including from the town’s mayor, Lori Hohenleitner. A GoFundMe page set up by supporters raised $96,000.
After hearing he would be released, Vicens told fellow detainees to have their wives call him and he would try to help find them lawyers. He has received at least one call. Many immigrants picked up by ICE have to weigh the cost of hiring a lawyer versus meeting the living expenses of their families.
Vicens was released with a GPS ankle bracelet after posting a $7,000 bond. He’s on probation for 90 days.
At the restaurant he owns with his brother, Emilio, some 100 supporters celebrated his release Nov. 22.
“I want to thank all of you because I never imagined all of this. I’m just thinking how I can pay back to this community,” Vicens told the crowd who had marched to the restaurant from a rally at Veteran’s Park.
“We want to make sure you all go back home with a happy belly,” his brother said. “We’ve got some food inside. So please, come in.”
Craig Honts contributed to this article.