Hardworking Restaurateur Loves His Family and Positively Impacts Community

Dear Judge Armstrong:

As friends of the Chen Family and/or patrons of their restaurant, we kindly petition you for the release of Mr. JianBin Chen, a legal US permanent resident since 2009. Mr. Chen is a very kind and amiable person, and a responsible husband and father to his family. Under Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s love, guidance, and care, their two children have grown to become excellent members of the community themselves: socially, morally, and academically. Mr. Chen works hard and strives to constantly improve his restaurant, which is a favorite gathering place for so many in State College.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. and Mrs. Chen persisted in providing services to the community. At the same time, they asked their children to set up a donation campaign on GoFundMe for a local nursing home, and all donors received a free Crazy Boil meal of the same value as their donation amount. They converted all donations into gift cards for the nursing home staff as Christmas gifts. They consistently treated guests like family, making Crazy Boil feel like a second home. Members of State College's community share this love for Crazy Boil: many graduating students from Penn State would come to the restaurant to eat and take photos with the owners before leaving the area.

When we learned that Crazy Boil could not open for business due to Mr. Chen being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the community became concerned about Mr. Chen and his family's wellbeing. Mrs. Chen has been unable to operate the restaurant during the past few months, generating no income. To keep the restaurant afloat while waiting for Mr. Chen's return, she became a rideshare driver to pay for the restaurant property's monthly rent. We sincerely hope that Mr. Chen can be released, and returned to his family and community, and can reopen Crazy Boil, one of our community’s favorite gathering places, for business.

Honorable Judge, we, the undersigned, stand united in our request for Mr. Chen's return to his family and business as soon as possible. We implore you to show mercy and make the best judgment for Mr. Chen, his family, and our community. Below (on the subsequent pages) are all our signatures. Thank you again for your kind consideration.