Latest news with #undocumentedWorkers
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jacksonville Beach restaurant owner sentenced for harboring undocumented workers
Ping Ping Zheng, owner of Kamiya 86 Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar, will spend the next two years on probation for hiring people who were not legally authorized to work in the United States. Zheng, 37, pleaded guilty to federal charges in February. She was sentenced on May 27. According to the plea agreement, Zheng provided rent-free housing and transportation to undocumented workers and paid them in cash without withholding taxes. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Action News Jax told you in 2024 when the Jacksonville Beach restaurant was raided. Zheng and Hua Yao Ke were arrested. Ke also pleaded guilty to the charges. He will be sentenced in July. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
The Independent
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Kid Rock's Nashville restaurant sends staff home on busy Saturday night to avoid ICE raid, report says
Management at a Kid Rock-themed restaurant and bar in Nashville reportedly rushed non-citizen employees off the premises during the weekend over fears of an impending ICE raid. During the busy Saturday service, non-citizen employees at three restaurants owned by Nashville businessman Steve Smith were told to leave, including Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse, which opened in 2018, Nashville Scene reports. 'We were already understaffed because of the ICE raids throughout the weekend,' an employee at one restaurant told the outlet. "Then, around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, our manager came back and told anyone without legal status to go home.' After the alleged request, the employee said there was 'no one in the kitchen to cook the food.' The Independent has contacted the Kid Rock restaurant for comment, as well as the others named in the article, including Honky Tonk Central. A manager at the third restaurant mentioned in the piece, The Diner, declined to comment. The reported fears of a raid came as ICE conducted a weeklong operation in the area, which netted nearly 200 arrests, according to the agency. The alleged known presence of undocumented workers at Kid Rock's restaurant would be at odds with the entertainer's staunch support for Donald Trump and his attempts to crack down on illegal immigration. Kid Rock is a vocal ally of the president and recently appeared at the White House for the signing of an executive order targeting ticket scalpers. Echoing Trump's rhetoric, Kid Rock called immigrants 'murderers' and 'rapists' in a 2024 Rolling Stone interview. It is unclear if Kid Rock owns part of the steakhouse, or merely licenses his name to the business, though he has spoken about being affiliated with the business since before it opened. The Tennessean has described the musician as a partner in the venture. The steakhouse was previously in the headlines in 2020 after being cited for failing to comply with Covid guidelines.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Kid Rock's restaurant workers asked to go home to avoid rumored Ice raids
The restaurant Kid Rock's was among several others in Nashville owned by the conservative restaurateur and Donald Trump supporter Steve Smith where undocumented kitchen staff were asked to go home to avoid rumored immigration raids this weekend. The restaurant – whose full name is Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse, and is licensed by the rightwing musician Kid Rock, who has also become one of the US president's highest-profile supporters – reportedly found itself struggling to serve post-concert crowds on Saturday night after the order from managers instructing employees without legal status to leave, according to the Nashville Scene. 'Around 9.30pm on Saturday, our manager came back and told anyone without legal status to go home,' one anonymous employee told the outlet. 'Events at the Ryman, Ascend, the Savannah Bananas' baseball game all let out, and it was crazy busy. But there was no one in the kitchen to cook the food.' Like Kid Rock, Smith has cultivated a reputation as a vocal conservative, fighting Covid-19 restrictions and backing Trump with campaign donations. Yet the episode appeared to suggest that his establishments – including The Diner and Honky Tonk Central – are partly dependent on the undocumented labor the president has vowed to expel from the US. An aggressive immigration sweep began 3 May, when state troopers and unmarked Ice vehicles dramatically increased traffic stops throughout south Nashville. The operation has netted at least 196 arrests – including 101 individuals with no criminal history, according to a Department of Homeland Security press release. Trump and DHS secretary Kristi Noem have publicly celebrated accelerated deportations nationwide, which have ensnared legal residents alongside undocumented immigrants. Last week, Ice agents visited at least nine restaurants in the Washington DC area. Service disruptions in Nashville continued through Sunday as fearful workers chose to remain home rather than risk detention. Nashville officials, including the mayor and multiple metro councilors, have denounced the raids, but the city's legal director, Wallace Dietz, said local government is 'powerless' against state and federal immigration enforcement actions. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion According to a Rolling Stone profile of Kid Rock, at his concerts he has railed against 'open borders' and echoed Trump's rhetoric on immigration, including claiming that some are 'murderers! They're rapists! They are! MS-13!' In 2019, a second restaurant licensed by Kid Rock in Detroit closed amid backlash over a video of him making profanity-laced comments about Oprah Winfrey while apparently drunk at a Nashville event. The Ilitch family, which owned the arena in which the restaurant was housed, announced that Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, had 'voluntarily decided not to renew' his licensing agreement for Kid Rock's Made in Detroit.
