Thread: Iowa: ICE Investigating 2 Chinese Restaurants

ICE official confirms raid in Vinton, Toledo

ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 18, 2008

Immigration agents are investigating two Chinese restaurants in eastern Iowa.

Tim Counts, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says restaurants in Vinton and Toledo were being investigated on Tuesday.

Both restaurants are called the Peony Chinese Restaurant.

Counts did not say what prompted the investigation. Counts says no arrests had been made by early Tuesday afternoon.

Counts said ICE had summoned Iowa State Patrol officers to the restaurant for security, but they were not directly involved in the enforcement operation. The raid, he said, is much smaller than the May 12 operation at Agriprocessors Inc. that led to the arrest of 389 illegal immigrant workers.

A spokeswoman for the Iowa State Patrol said she did not yet have details about the action. Vinton’s police chief was out of the office.

Peony Chinese Restaurant is located in downtown Vinton and serves Mandarin and Cantonese style Chinese food, according to online ads.

Vinton, an eastern Iowa town of 5,100, is the county seat of Benton County.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/articl ... /-1/NEWS04

I always loved chinese food, but a quick tip here... everytime I walk into a chinese restaurant and glance at the back kitchen, all I see are hispanics. Chinese ingredients might kill you to begin with, but add to the mix potential illegals who never get immunizations, raise chickens in their kitchen cabinets, and never flush their commodes. Enough said...

I pass on Chinese food. If you can eat a lunch special for $4.50 with enough left over to have for dinner as well, in this day and time?? Something is wrong with that picture. Buyer beware...

Immigration agents arrest 4 at Chinese restaurants

Associated Press - November 18, 2008 5:14 PM ET

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Immigration agents have arrested four men at two Chinese restaurants in eastern Iowa on charges of being in the country illegally.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts says the men were arrested at restaurants in Vinton and Toledo. Both restaurants are called the Peony Chinese Restaurant.

Counts says 3 of the men are from Mexico and one is from China.

He declined to name those arrested or say what prompted the investigation.

Agents arrived at the restaurants about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and left about 2 p.m., Counts said. The arrested men were questioned in Cedar Rapids, then held in county jails to await administrative hearings.

Counts said the most severe penalty they face is deportation.

http://www.whotv.com/global/story.asp?s=9373250

ICE needs to visit Red Lobster, Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Applebees, etc. Why do they go after ma and pa Chinese restaurants? Go after the big boys...the ones who would normally hire American workers. Even if the illegals weren't here, many Chinese restaurants would only hire a minimal number of Americans, because they would primarily employ family members and Chinese friends in their restaurants. If you want to put Americans back to work, go after the restaurant chains that traditionally hire Americans.

Ostrich