Chef At Popular Atlantic Highlands Mexican Restaurant Detained By ICE

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — Editor's note: This article has been updated with new information from Marquez's lawyer. The head chef of Emilio's Kitchen, a popular Mexican restaurant in Atlantic Highlands, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Oct. 19.

Ruperto Vicens Marquez worked at the Mexican restaurant owned by his brother, Emilio Vicens. The two brothers were business partners and ran the restaurant together.

His wife and three small children remain here in the U.S., said Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, who is collecting money to help him. The family lives in Middletown's Belford section.

Hohenleitner said Marquez has valid work papers to work in the United States.

"I've seen the documentation myself," she told Patch this week. "He is authorized to work in the United States through 2029."

Marquez was taken into ICE custody at 6:30 a.m. Oct. 19, a Sunday, she said. He was driving in a van to the restaurant at the time, and several other men were with him, said Hohenleitner.

The mayor said it is her understanding ICE stopped the van on Center Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, in the area of St. Agnes Catholic church, and Marquez and several other men were put into handcuffs and taken into ICE custody.

"When he did not arrive at work that morning, his brother became concerned. And that's how we learned he was picked up by ICE," she said.

ICE officials confirmed this week Marquez is in their custody. Marquez had a previous arrest for resisting arrest, and a federal judge issued a final order for his removal in July, said a spokesperson for ICE media relations.

"On October 19, ICE arrested Ruperto Vicens Marquez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, with a previous arrest for resisting arrest," Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a prepared statement Wednesday. "He entered the country illegally at an unknown time and date. He had full due process. An immigration judge issued him a final order of removal on July 18, 2025. To be clear, work authorization does not give anyone legal status to remain in the U.S. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”

This police blotter shows Vicens Marquez, 23 at the time, was arrested in 2010 in Red Bank for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

However, Marquez's lawyer, Steven Lyons, said Marquez was not issued a final order of removal in July.

"At the time of his apprehension by ICE, Ruperto was scheduled for a merits hearing on his application for relief on May 25, 2028 at Immigration Court, Newark," Lyons said Thursday.

He also said the charge for resisting arrest was dismissed in July of 2010 by Red Bank municipal court.

"ICE sometimes lies," said Hohenleitner.

Marquez is currently being held at Delaney Hall, the ICE detention center in Newark.

Hohenleitner started this GoFundMe, which she says will pay his legal fees in an attempt to help him remain in the United States. The page has raised $85,000 so far, with a goal of raising $100,000 for Marquez.

"I'm really proud of this community," she told Patch this week. "The restaurant truly is a pillar of this community and everyone goes there. They just opened a second location in Belmar in the last few weeks."

A protest was also held Monday outside Atlantic Highlands town hall in support of Marquez and Emilio's Kitchen.

"Please help us help his family with the legal expenses to get him back home to his family and to Emilio’s, where he is Emilio’s partner in business," Hohenleitner wrote on the fundraising page. "Ruperto and Emilio and their families are the lifeblood of our community. Let’s help bring him back home. Any funds above expenses will be donated to American Friends Service Committee to support other targeted members of our community."