http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/c ... sraid.html

Fairfield restaurant owner facing deportation
Fairfield resident charged in federal court for allegedly harboring and hiring illegal immigrants.
By Michael D. Pitman


Staff Writer

CINCINNATI — A Fairfield restaurant owner could be deported after being charged with harboring and hiring illegal immigrants, authorities said.

Jing Fei Jiang, a 36-year-old illegal immigrant who owns Bee’s Restaurant, was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati with one count of inducement of illegal immigrants, authorities said.

Jiang has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since the raid of his home at 5675 David Place in Fairfield. During the June 5 raid, authorities said they found 10 restaurant employees living at the home. Also found at the home were employment and financial documents relating to his restaurant at 725 Nilles Road, authorities said.

Jiang admitted to housing, transporting and employing the illegal immigrants, as well as not completing the employment verification documents, according to an affidavit.

Fred Alverson, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman, said Jiang will appear in court in Cincinnati within the next 10 days.

“The law under which Jiang is charged provides for a penalty of up to 10 years, if he is convicted, but the actual sentences are usually less than the maximum,” Alverson said.

In 1990, after failing to appear at an immigration hearing, Jiang was ordered out of the country, officials said.

“Since he has been determined to be an illegal alien, he faces deportation following any sentence he serves, if he is convicted,” Alverson said.

The charges follow a probe into an Oxford restaurant, authorities said. While investigating suspected illegal immigrants at China One Restaurant in Oxford in 2005, ICE investigators said they were led to follow an Asian male. The male was believed to have been “ordered” through an employment service in New York City to Omniplex Drive in Forest Park and then to Jiang’s home, authorities said.

The green van used to transport the man was registered to a Chen Pow Bee, 5378 Hannah View, Fairfield, authorities said. That home is owned by Bee and Jiang, according to the Butler County Auditor’s Office.

On the day Jiang’s home was raided, 10 people were taken into custody. Seven were determined to be in the country illegally, authorities said.

“Those individuals either remain in ICE custody at this point or have been processed for removal from the United States,” said ICE spokesman Greg Palmore. “Those in ICE custody, if they haven’t been before an immigration judge, they will be entitled to due process. If they have a final order already pending, they will be removed from the United States, and some of those did.”

Federal agents said they seized the following from Jiang’s home including more than $173,990 in U.S. currency.

Agents also seized $105,050 from a safe deposit, authorities said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or mpitman@coxohio.com.