South Orange Mayor Shares Stories of Local Workers Apprehended by ICE

After a flurry of social media posts reporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, activity in Maplewood and South Orange on Friday, August 7, South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum is sharing information about those arrested, providing resources, and thanking community members for their actions.

“I got to witness the power of community and what it means to stand up for our neighbors,” wrote Collum in a statement that she shared with local media. “In many places, people just disappear… Not here.”

“Here, neighbors noticed,” wrote Collum. “People took pictures and videos. They shared information. They made calls. They helped us identify people. They connected families with resources, attorneys, and financial assistance. Hundreds of donors have raised over $50,000, and the total is climbing. And they did it quickly because they cared about people they might not even have known.”

Collum then shared GoFundMe campaign links for four of the men: Tonny Quesada-Ramirez, who goes by Tony, who is being held in Delaney Hall in Newark; Omar Alvarez, a sous chef at Perla Oyster Bar in Maplewood, whose GoFundMe was created by Perla owner/chef Matthew Chappina; and Edgar and Miguel, two workers for Obaldo’s Roofing (Edgar is Obaldo’s brother).

Tonny Quesada-Ramirez

“Our family has known Tony for five years, ever since he made for us a beautiful wooden cover for a radiator,” wrote Shuly Adams, who created a GoFundMe for Quesada-Ramirez. “He lived in an apartment on our street, and we turned to Tony again and again whenever we needed work done in our home. His work was beautiful, and we got to know Tony. He was kind. He was easy to work with. He lit up when talking about his family, most of all his two sons, the older of whom has Down’s syndrome.”

“Edgar is a devoted husband, a father of three children ages 16, 8, and 4, and someone who has spent the last 18 years building a life here through faith, hard work, and love for family,” wrote Bonnie Ramsay, who created Edgar and Miguel’s GoFundMe. “Edgar and the people around him have always shown up for their community, helping neighbors with roofing and home repairs and treating others with kindness. Now, Edgar’s family is facing an incredibly painful and uncertain time, and they need that same community to show up for them. Miguel has lived in the US since he was 14 and has no family here. He lives with Edgar’s family, has worked for Obaldo since 2010 and also needs our support.”

On Omar Alvarez’s GoFundMe, Chappina wrote,”Omar was the first employee of Perla’s nearly two years ago. In that time, he has distinguished himself, has shown himself to be nothing but a hardworking, dedicated, morally-just and gracious person in every aspect of his profession and personal life. Omar is from Peru. He has been on his path to citizenship and has been following every lawful step in the process.”

Edgar via GoFundMe

Collum said she was able to identify the men through the information, times, dates, photographs, etc. that community members who witnessed the arrests shared with her.

“I was able to personally speak with their loved ones, learn about them and their families, and offer support,” wrote Collum. ‘These are fathers, husbands, brothers, and caretakers going to work on just another day to provide for the families who depend on them.”

Omar Alvarez via Sheena Collum

Collum said that she, in turn, has shared the information with Congresswoman Analilia Mejia’s office in order to reach out to the communities where some of the men live.

The mayor also lauded the work of Matt Bloom and SOMA Community Cares, “which is making a tremendous impact behind the scenes and, importantly, can assist with rapid response when something like this happens: https://somacommunitycares.org.”

In previous social media messages, Collum also asked that community members contact the DIRE hotline when they see ICE activity: The DIRE number is number is 1-888-DIRE-SOS or 1-888-347 3767.

Read Collum’s full statement here:

Neighbors,

As a follow-up to the ICE activity that took place in South Orange on Friday, August 7, 2026, two individuals were taken in South Orange at two different locations, and two individuals were taken from a single location in our sister town of Maplewood.

When we reached out to ICE, their standard response was to confirm that “activity is occurring” and tell us we could “look up detainees in a database, which gets updated every 24–48 hours.” That obviously doesn’t help much when we may not even know who the individuals are, but I’m sure that’s by design.

However, because of the extraordinary participation of community members, we were able to identify the individuals very quickly. There are too many people to list who responded with pictures, videos, information, contacts, and knowledge of what happened, but I just want to say thank you. You know who you are, and you helped us connect the dots very quickly.

I was able to personally speak with their loved ones, learn about them and their families, and offer support. These are fathers, husbands, brothers, and caretakers going to work on just another day to provide for the families who depend on them.

Once we had names, I shared them with Congresswoman Mejia’s office (thank you, Jasmine Metellus) and reached out to the mayors of the communities where some of those detained primarily reside.

Within a few hours, I was so lucky to sync up with Matt Bloom, who co-runs SOMA Community Cares, which has raised significant funds to assist individuals and families impacted by detention. He was a rock star. He was connecting directly with families and also reached out to Rachel Salazar, a Maplewood resident and DDDI attorney, for additional assistance with assessing eligibility and potential legal options, including filing habeas petitions where appropriate. She jumped into action. One South Orange family also took it upon themselves to work with loved ones to find a private attorney. It was all hands on deck.

As of right now, there are three active GoFundMe campaigns created by Bonnie Ramsey, Shuly Adams, and Matthew Chappina, which I’m providing below (please help however you can):