meanwhile another immigrant arrest in New Jersey has also garnered national attention that of Egyptian native Karim Daoud a longtime county business owner married to a US citizen with a family here who went to a scheduled appointment with ICE to pick up work authorization papers but was detained instead raven Santana has the story to see that it could happen to him it really hit home obviously and it could happen to anyone you know and it's just it was it was heartbreaking Rachel Mascitelli is still in shock that her friend of nearly 20 years Karim Daoud was taken into ICE custody on March 12th Daoud a Flemington resident who entered the United States on a tourist visa is currently considered an overstay yet he is married to a United States citizen with United States citizen children Mascitelli says Daoud was detained by ICE after an appointment to pick up documents to fulfill his work authorization to remain here in the US he was picking up paperwork um for a work authorization card which he has held and he was at the ICE SAP office in Newark and they said "Hey there's been a mistake you need to go to ICE."

He got to ICE and he was detained there so it's I mean it just it's heartbreaking that he was there following rules you know he wasn't walking on the street he wasn't out working illegally he wasn't doing any he was following what had been asked of him Mascitelli says his detainment follows a difficult year for the family she was diagnosed last year with breast cancer their son has um ulcerative colitis and is in and out of the hospital for that they've just their family has been through a lot in the last couple of years um lost parent you know things like that it's been it's been a lot news of his arrest spread rapidly throughout Flemington with Facebook posts and a GoFundMe page launched to help cover his legal fees and support his family i wasn't surprised that the community came together for Kareem i was surprised at how quickly and to what extent um I was talking to my partner before bed i remember when we set up the GoFundMe and I was like you know I have a feeling tonight we'll hit like 10:15 something like that and then by the next day we're at you know almost 60 so it was just it was incredible and it really speaks to who Karim is he was the very first customer to walk through these doors i want to say it was 2 minutes before we actually opened the doors officially and he was in here said "Congratulations Dave i've got to I got to run over to work but I just wanted to have uh you to have this dollar pound bill from Egypt where he's from."

And I was like "Oh my god."

Oh Karim cuz he's he's like a local celebrity basically and he took time out of his day to come here and I was so happy and I taped it up on the wall i was like I'm never going to forget this dude Daoud and his wife work together here at this well-known restaurant in Flemington and now family and friends say they will not stop until he is returned back to his family he was already a well-known quantity to just like an outsider like me who's just moving to Flemington and you're like "Oh did you sit in Karim's section when you went to Bluefish Grill?"

And I'm like "I don't I don't know i don't know him yet."

Went back like the second time immediately found out who Karim Daoud is now considered a local celebrity and David Norton expresses difficulty in comprehending why his friend was detained ice has Karim and they've had him for 2 and 1/2 weeks how you know I didn't have words at the time i uh it took me a while to find them but I was I mean extremely sad um I also was shocked that somebody like Karim who I know crosses his eyes and dots his tees in regards to being here um would be snatched up like this a public affairs officer for ICE issued a statement regarding the arrest of Daoud the statement reads "Karim Ahmed Daoud Mahmud Salam a native and citizen of Egypt was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement March 12th for violating US immigration laws Daoud is currently detained at the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility in Elizabeth New Jersey and is pending removal from the United States us immigration laws allow aliens to pursue relief from removal and Mr Daoud has exhausted all due process and appeals and is now subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge ice must carry out removal orders in the meantime Mascitelli says there has been a small victory with the help of lawmakers including Senator Andy Kim he was set to go on a bus to California he was in line and they pulled him out um because to our knowledge um Senator Andy Kim got involved senator Andy Kim has been in contact with Kareem's wife Jen um he called her personally senator Kim declined to comment on Daoud's case but Mascitelli stated that they plan to organize a rally in support of Daoud in the coming days and will continue to urge local lawmakers to advocate for his release for NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana [Music]