PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A GoFundMe sign greeted customers of Khao Niew Lao Street Food on Friday afternoon.The food pod is one of a few on Portland State University’s campus.The donation page says the owner, Thovatsay Phimmoungkhoun — also known as Nong — was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.“It’s kind of a little bit emotional. It’s truly sad.”His business neighbor, Jamphel Dorjiog, says he talked to Nong the night before he was detained by ICE — and when he tried to call him the following day, Nong didn’t answer.“I didn’t expect this to happen. So, this has happened, and I was so sad. Everyone close to him is super sad about this,” said Dorjiog.Dorjiog says they were like brothers, but their friendship went further: they also shared similar ambitions.“We were planning to set up the business together. We had a dream to say, ‘How about we have a good bar, and then we can run two different kitchens?’” said Dorjiog.Dorjiog adds Nong was kind to everyone he met and was a hard-working man.And that wasn’t just expressed by Dorjiog — students who frequented Nong’s food pod always noticed the hard-working small business owner.“He was super considerate, super kind, very attentive. You know, like I said, very popular — had a lot of patrons,” said Ruby Zapf-Geller, a Portland State University student.As Nong’s family hopes to raise money for his new life in Laos, friends and students say they’ll miss having Nong in the community.And FOX 12 was able to confirm that Nong was sent to Tacoma and is being held there.If you’d like to help him during this time of uncertainty, here is the donation page.Copyright 2026 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.