Nov. 19, 2025, 9:41 a.m. ETAn Atlantic Highlands restaurant co-owner was freed after being detained by ICE for a month.A judge ordered Ruperto Vicens' release on a $7,000 bond, but he remained in custody for almost a week longer.A welcome home rally is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22, at Veterans Park and Borough Hall.A welcome home rally is set for noon on Saturday, Nov. 22, at Veterans Park and Borough Hall as the head chef and co-owner of a popular restaurant in Atlantic Highlands has been freed after he was detained by immigration officials for a month.Ruperto Vicens remained detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for almost a week after a judge ordered his release, which caused his welcome-home event to be postponed twice.Vicens — a Mexican national, Middletown resident and father of three young children — co-owns Zoe's Emilio's Kitchen, a Mexican restaurant on Center Avenue in Atlantic Highlands. He was picked up by ICE Oct. 19 while on his way to the restaurant and incarcerated in the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark.His advocates argued he lives here legally, and Judge Ramin Rastegar agreed, ruling that Vicens will be free until his next regularly scheduled employment authorization hearing, which takes place in May 2028, in advance of the authorization's 2029 expiration.During a Thursday, Nov. 13 bond hearing with the Justice Department’s immigration court in Elizabeth, Rastegar set bond for Vicens at $7,000, his attorney Steven Lyons told the Asbury Park Press. The Department of Homeland Security had one business day to appeal the ruling, after which Vicens would be released from custody.Vicens was initially expected to return home to a welcome home rally at Veterans Memorial Park on Saturday, Nov. 15, which was later delayed to Monday, Nov. 17, but both events had to be postponed. Vicens was eventually released late on the evening on Nov. 18.The welcome home rally is now set for noon on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Veterans Park and Borough Hall at 100 First Ave. From 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. there will be a walk to Vicens' restaurant located at 77 Center Ave.Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner has been involved in the efforts to fee Vicens and went to Newark to post the bond in person after what she described as the "very tedious" bureaucratic online process left him detained despite the judges order.Resident Kerri Kennedy posted a video of herself with the mayor outside the facility to Facebook on Nov. 18 about the bond being posted and Vicens being freed later that day. A little after 6 p.m. Kennedy provided an update stating that "he's out and on his way home!"Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com