Image Credit: Red Ginger Buffet / Facebook
Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
Two East Tennessee restaurant owners have pleaded guilty to federal felony charges related to illegal immigration.
Xue Rong Wu and Xiong Wei Yang, owners of the Red Ginger Chinese buffet in Elizabethton, admitted to housing four illegal aliens in a home in Elizabethton and transporting them to and from work at the restaurant.
Homeland Security officials began investigating the pair back in March after being given information that “the owners…were possibly employing illegal aliens to work at the restaurant and housing the illegal aliens.”
The pair admitted that they had turned a residence they owned in Elizabethton into “numerous single person rooms” and that at least four individuals had been allowed to stay there without paying rent.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to conceal, harbor, and shield from detection aliens for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.”
This charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Their guilty plea on charges of “the practice and pattern of hiring for employment aliens not authorized to be employed in the United States” could carry six months in prison for each illegal alien.
The couple could also face changes to their own residency, depending on their own legal status in the country.
Court documents state that “if the defendant is not a citizen … a broad range of crimes are removable offenses, including the offenses to which the defendant is pleading guilty.”
According to investigators, surveillance was done of the residence and local officials testified of a number of reports on the residence, including fights and multiple sightings of the van being filled with residents before driving away.
After conducting a traffic stop on the van, officers discovered Wu driving with 5 male and 2 female passengers. The men were from Mexico and Guatemala, while the women were from China. The men were all found to be in the country illegally.
A date for sentencing has not yet been set.
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