Indictment: Red Ginger owners employed, harbored undocumented workers

Yahoo

a day ago

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — Red Ginger Buffet Chinese restaurant was open and busy Wednesday, a week after its owners were arrested on federal felony charges for allegedly harboring, concealing and employing four undocumented workers.
Federal documents show Xiong Wei Yang and Xu Rong Wu face three separate counts related to claims that from May 2023 to March 2025, they not only employed the four but also 'engaged in a conspiracy, knowing and in reckless disregard' of the fact that the employees were in the U.S. illegally.
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The two were released on a $20,000 bond each. Wu told News Channel 11 she and her husband intend to keep the restaurant open and acknowledged the charges. Meanwhile, several diners said the allegations wouldn't dissuade them from patronizing a restaurant they said has great food and kind, friendly owners.
'We came to support them now that they're back open,' Anna Harrell, who said she favors the crab rangoon, said. The restaurant reopened on Tuesday after being closed for several days.
McKenna Cox, a local immigration attorney, said charges of harboring and also of concealing immigrants are increasingly being leveled against employers, including smaller businesses.
'That's not historically something that's been pursued aggressively by the federal government outside of a human trafficking context, at least in recent years,' Cox said. 'So this focus on the harboring statute is something that's come to popularity fairly recently.'
Social media reports of Department of Homeland Security vehicles 'raiding' the restaurant last week turned out to have some basis in truth. The department is listed as the arresting agent in court filings.
Cox said the key to the government's case is the harboring allegation, which she said has been interpreted in various ways across the country. The indictment's first count claims the couple 'did conceal, harbor, and shield from detection such aliens in buildings and other places for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.'
The second count alleges the defendants 'encouraged and induced' the four immigrants to come to enter and live in the U.S., 'knowing and in reckless disregard' that action violated the law. The third count alleges 'a pattern and practice of hiring' unauthorized aliens.
'It remains to be seen what the proof is and the evidence may be in any given case, and certainly in the case of our friends at Red Ginger, whether or not that can be proven by the federal government and that legal standard can be met,' Cox said.
'There's a lot of room for maneuvering and interpretation legally in this case and in cases like it.'
Cox said news reports and communication among immigration advocates have shown an uptick in enforcement actions — though she acknowledged work on this case could have preceded the more aggressive enforcement implemented by President Donald Trump starting in January.
'Right now we're seeing a focus on restaurateurs and restaurants in our area and throughout the Southeast,' she said.
'We're also seeing a focus on construction sites. We're seeing a focus on any location where we frequently have undocumented folks or immigrants working in those industries.'
Cox thinks prosecution could be as much of a focus as gaining convictions.
'This type of arrest, this type of prosecution is a message to anyone who employs undocumented workers, if they know that they're undocumented or people who may have entered the country unlawfully and don't have a current, valid legal status.'
Raids have occurred in the past, but Cox said typically they've involved sites employing large numbers of staff. And she said the law gets stricter when 10 or more people are involved.
'I can imagine that it has a chilling effect on local businesses, on small businesses, on family-run businesses that we in America are very proud to have and we want to encourage,' she said.
Cox said finding people willing to do some less-than-attractive work, like that common in restaurants, has gotten harder for employers since the COVID-19 pandemic.
'There probably is an increased reliance on immigrant labor for folks who really will consistently come to work and are willing to do some jobs that perhaps U.S. citizens are not super excited about taking and working in,' she said.
As Cox pointed out, though, the federal government is trying to prove Red Ginger's owners violated federal law. Guilty pleas or verdicts could result in imprisonment, fines or both.
The allegations won't be enough to keep Anna Harrell and her husband away. Sam Padgett, who said he pops over several times a week from his job at a nearby Lowe's to enjoy the buffet, said the same.
'They know me in there,' Padgett said. 'They're really nice. And I'm a fan of Chinese food, and this place is rated really highly, so it's been busy lately.'
Cox thinks some Northeast Tennesseans may be in for a surprise concerning immigration enforcement actions, but also thinks people are on alert given the 'front and center' coverage of ICE raids, protests and related stories.
'Regardless of whether you support or don't support those actions, it is very much in our zeitgeist and in our national mindset, and so I think that to see it locally brings it home,' she said.
'I think people are like, 'Oh, you know, I didn't maybe expect to see that here,' but we're seeing it here. It's happening here … It's not just happening across the country in another place, and it does affect our local businesses and it does affect our friends and neighbors.'Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.