Thread: Brothers charged with harboring illegal immigrants

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/ne ... 755080.htm

Posted on Tue, Jun. 06, 2006

Brothers charged with harboring illegal immigrants


Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two central Kentucky brothers were indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday on charges of illegally harboring, transporting and employing illegal aliens to work at their Chinese restaurant.

The indictment claims Jian Tian Lin, 32, and Jian Chai Lin, 34, both of Radcliff, hired illegal Chinese and Mexican immigrants for financial gain and commercial advantage and employed them at the Golden China Buffet in Radcliff.

An investigation by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the restaurant claims Jian Tian Lin also set up housing for the immigrants in Radcliff and drove them to and from work every day.

The indictment claims the restaurant was employing seven illegal immigrants when the brothers, who prosecutors say are also illegal immigrants, were arrested May 10.

Arraignment was set for June 27.

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Radcliff Business Owners Accused Of Harboring Illegal Immigrants

June 16, 2006, 09:08 AM


By Eric Flack

(RADCLIFF, Ky.) -- Two Chinese brothers living in Hardin County face federal felony charges for hiring and harboring illegal immigrants. The U.S. Attorney's office in Louisville says the raid is part of a larger crackdown in response to all the attention surrounding the immigration issue.
WAVE 3 Investigator Eric Flack has more.

Customers say it serves the best Chinese in Radcliff, but the U.S. Attorney's office knows The Golden China Buffet Restaurant for an entirely different reason.

"They came to our attention because of a special investigation," said David Huber, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District. "They were actually violating the immigration laws of the United States."

Jian Chai Lin and his brother, Jian Tian Lin, were indicted earlier this month for harboring seven Chinese and Mexican illegal immigrants to work at their restaurant.

It was "a very organized operation," Huber said. "They would pick them up in the morning and take them back home at night."

The Lin brothers are accused of not only employing the illegal aliens at their restaurant but also housing all of them at a home on Wilma Avenue, not far away.

The local busts are part of a nationwide crackdown. As of Wednesday, federal agents said they have arrested more than 2,000 illegal immigrants in a coast to coast sweep. Many of them were convicted criminals, child predators, gang members and fugitives.

Authorities say they will keep the pressure on.

"I think we will continue to have more prosecutions and arrests and indictments," Huber said.

The U.S. Attorney says more than a dozen illegal immigrants have been indicted on federal charges in Kentuckiana in the past year. Six men are scheduled to stand trial in Louisville later this month for making and distributing bogus ID cards and work visas to other illegal immigrants.

As for the Lin brothers, Huber says they, too, are in this country illegally. But their stay could be coming to an end.

If convicted, they will likely serve prison time, then be deported.

Jian Chai Lin did not want to be interviewed for this story. He was quoted in a local newspaper saying the whole thing was a mistake and that he got the workers from employment agencies in New York and Chicago.

He claims they all presented work documents he now believes were falsified.

As for his own status, Lin said his entire family is here legally. If convicted, he and his brother face a maximum fine of $2,000,000 and 50 years in prison.

Online Reporter: Eric Flack

Online Producer: Michael Dever