By Barbara A. Preston | July 24, 2025
Zhang Ming Xi (John Zhang), known affectionately as “Sushi John” to those who have visited his Ya Ya Noodles restaurant in the Montgomery North Shopping Center, is entering his 123rd day of captivity in an immigrant detention facility by Newark Airport. His daughter said he is really skinny, he is getting the insulin he needs for his diabetes, and had a hair cut for his court date.
Unfortunately, things did not go well in court on July 16 for Zhang, who was seeking to return to his Montgomery Township home. Newark Immigration Court Judge Tamar H. Wilson denied all of Zhang's applications — leaving Zhang with the option of returning to his native China or remaining in the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, a facility that holds 300 detainees, while he appeals the decision.
ICE apprehended John Zhang in Newark on March 24. YaYa Noodles in Montgomery North Shopping Center will remain closed, pending the outcome of Zhang’s appeal - which could take up to eight months.
The Elizabeth Detention Center is operated by CoreCivic, a private prison corporation, under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Zhang is a Green Card holder, who was sentenced for illegally acting as “an agent of a foreign government” without notification to the US Attorney General. (The U.S. District Court of New Jersey had sentenced him on April 30, 2024 to probation for a term of three years. The sentence was based on a crime that had occurred nine years ago.)
ICE detained Zhang on March 24. He was serving his probation term and working in his restaurant when ICE telephoned him and told him to travel from Skillman to its Newark Field Office, but did not explain why. He was arrested on the spot.
The Montgomery News spoke to daughter Emily Zhang by phone on July 24 about her father's trial and future plans for the restaurant, which had closed in May. Emily, a college student, was working hard with the staff to keep the restaurant open while her father was detained. However, her father decided to close it, she said.
"We will only reopen the restaurant if he comes back," she said. "We will appeal to a federal judge. It could take up to eight months. He will either be released here, or China."
John Zhang working in his restaurant prior to his incarceration by ICE.
According to court documents, Zhang had cooperated fully with the FBI on his previous arrest. There is speculation that a return to China could be dangerous for him.
"FBI agents had testified on behalf of my father at his sentencing trail," Emily said. She added that many upstanding citizens gave testimony at his recent trial, characterizing her father as hard working, a credit to his community, an excellent father, and a good man.
"None of this mattered to the judge," she said. "I don't understand. He was already punished for his crime. But ICE is detaining him, and seems to be punishing him again."
At a previous detention hearing before Elizabeth Immigration Court Judge Adrian N. Armstrong on Thursday, April 10, Zhang sought to be released on his own recognizance, or on a bond.
Judge Armstrong basically ruled that the Elizabeth Immigration Court does not have jurisdiction in this case, Emily said.
Emily, who is a U.S. citizen and Montgomery High School graduate, will continue to live in Montgomery. She said she would take a gap year, or maybe just a semester off from college, while she plans her next steps in a complicated situation. She says she fully supports her father.
>> Daughter Visits "Sushi John" in ICE Detention Facility: "He's My Idol" (posted April 14, 2025)
