Thread: Restaurant operators sentenced for hiring illegal aliens

I.C.E. News Release

January 29, 2009

Northern California restaurant operators sentenced for hiring illegal aliens
Charges stemmed from ICE worksite probe

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A husband and wife who managed an Asian buffet restaurant in northern Calif., were each sentenced today to 36 months probation and fined $36,000 for hiring illegal aliens and concealing a felony, violations uncovered during an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In addition to three years' probation and the fine, Rui Yang Lin, 48, and his wife, Bi Xia Ni, 46, of Vallejo, Calif., also agreed to forfeit a family home they owned that was used to house some of those illegal workers. Lin and Ni managed the Empire Buffet restaurant in Vallejo, Calif.

In sentencing the defendants, who pleaded guilty in October 2008, Judge Morrison C. England gave them credit for promptly accepting responsibility for their crimes. Only 36 days passed between ICE's execution of a search warrant at the restaurant and the defendants' guilty pleas.

While the listed owner of the Empire Buffet was Lin's daughter, Lin and his wife oversaw most of the day-to-day operations at the restaurant. As managers, Lin and Ni admitted they hired employees they knew were illegal aliens. According to their pleas, from March 2008 until September 2008, the Empire Buffet hired at least 12 illegal alien workers and the practice was part of a pattern of activity by the business.

To conceal the restaurant's illegal hiring practices, Lin and Ni acknowledged the business filed fraudulent wage reports with the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Beginning in April 2007, and continuing through July 2008, the Empire Buffet submitted nine wage reports to the EDD that failed to list the undocumented aliens hired by the business. By doing so, the restaurant was able to increase its revenue by hiding wage and tax information from the state of California.

The charges against Lin and Ni were lodged after ICE agents executed search warrants at four locations related to the case in September 2008. Those locations included the Empire Buffet, another Asian restaurant in Vacaville, Calif., the King's Buffet, and two residences. During the enforcement action, ICE arrested 21 illegal alien workers on administrative immigration violations who were encountered at the search locations.

Rui Tao Lin, owner of the King's Buffet, previously pleaded guilty to unlawful employment of aliens and mail fraud. His sentencing is set for February 6.

To help employers build a legal workforce, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has an initiative called the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers or IMAGE. IMAGE is designed to build cooperative relationships between the government and businesses, strengthen hiring practices, and reduce the unlawful employment of illegal aliens. The initiative also seeks to gain greater industry compliance and corporate due diligence through enhanced training and education of employers. ICE strongly encourages employers to review IMAGE program materials available at www.ICE.gov.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Friday, January 30, 2009
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0901/090129sacramento.htm

We are reportedly seeing that alot more here, as well as prostitution rings from the asian population. They aren't causing the severe general population problems that other groups do, but it's still wrong and needs to be stopped.

I turned in the Chinese place in my town too.
I'm waiting to see if anything is ever done to them.

These bother me more because they are kept as prisoners, are abused and cause no problems to others. It doesn't make it right, but my compassion goes more towards them than it does to rude people making demands.

Originally Posted by crazybird

These bother me more because they are kept as prisoners, are abused and cause no problems to others. It doesn't make it right, but my compassion goes more towards them than it does to rude people making demands.

My place doesn't abuse them, they too were refugees and now they are rich. They are bringing in everyone and their mother! Then after awhile of working at the restauraunt, which is nice, they go to CA. But till then they are at the food pantry and using our services.

My furnace guy went to their nice house and there were 40 people on 40 air mattress's scattered all over the 3 floors. He even had to reschedule!
This is a nice couple but it's not right. I didn't turn them into ICE easily I toyed with it for a couple of months. I had to do it...

Restaurateurs sentenced for hiring illegals
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, February 9, 2009

(02-09) 16:06 PST VALLEJO --

Three people who operated Chinese restaurants in Vallejo and Vacaville have been sentenced to three years' probation apiece for employing illegal immigrants, authorities said today.

Rui Tao Lin, 53, formerly of Vallejo and now of Glens Falls, N.Y., was also sentenced to eight months of home confinement and fined $49,000 during a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. in Sacramento.

Lin owned King's Buffet on Orange Drive in Vacaville until summer 2008. He knowingly hired illegal immigrants from June 2006 until September 2008, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 29, co-defendants Rui Yang Lin, 48, and his wife, Bi Xia Ni, 46, both of Vallejo, were each sentenced to three years' probation for employing illegal immigrants at Empire Buffet on Sonoma Boulevard in Vallejo.

The businesses contacted an employment agency in Los Angeles to recruit Asian employees, prosecutors said. Other employees from Mexico and Central America were hired after responding to "help wanted" notices at the restaurants.

The case was an outgrowth of raids last month of three Bay Area homes and two restaurants that led to the arrests of 21 illegal immigrants who had been working at the establishments and living in squalor, authorities said.

The workers were crammed into small rooms or garages at the homes on Park Street in Hercules, Purple Sage Drive in Vacaville and Glacier Court in Vallejo, authorities said. The homes were infested with rodent droppings.

The case began in May 2006, when someone called to report suspicious activity at the Vacaville home.

www.sfgate.com

They should have been sent to prison. 3 years probation? No way is that right for hiring and housing illegal aliens.

I was expecting this to be a Mexican Restaurant but it's not.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

I was expecting this to be a Mexican Restaurant but it's not.

*GASP* that would be raaaaaacist.

On Jan. 29, co-defendants Rui Yang Lin, 48, and his wife, Bi Xia Ni, 46, both of Vallejo, were each sentenced to three years' probation for employing illegal immigrants at Empire Buffet on Sonoma Boulevard in Vallejo.

Probation???????

To conceal the restaurant's illegal hiring practices, Lin and Ni acknowledged the business filed fraudulent wage reports with the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Beginning in April 2007, and continuing through July 2008, the Empire Buffet submitted nine wage reports to the EDD that failed to list the undocumented aliens hired by the business. By doing so, the restaurant was able to increase its revenue by hiding wage and tax information from the state of California.

These folks should be doing hard time!