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Managers of two well-known St. Johns Co. restaurants accused of harboring undocumented immigrants

ST JOHNS COUNTY The managers at Tanks Sushi Bistro in World Golf Village and Nocatee are accused of hiring and harboring undocumented immigrants.

Yanshen Huang and Ge Tang, both born in China but naturalized in the U.S. in 2011, face federal charges. According to court documents, they harbored immigrants since December of 2020.

Federal agents raided a home on Pine Creek Drive in World Golf Village last week belonging to the suspects.

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Records show a three-bedroom trailer had an additional six makeshift bedrooms. Agents said they witnessed a van picking up undocumented immigrants and dropping them off to work at Tanks.

A neighbor on Pine Creek Drive said she would see the van pickup the residents, and they would duck below the windows while making the drive to work. They would also sometimes walk or bike.

One of the individuals questioned by agents said he worked from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week and made $3500 a month. Thats approximately $12 an hour.

The suspects are also accused of harboring aliens in another home in the Beachwalk development. Records show there were several makeshift bedrooms there as well, including one bed placed in a utility closet.

Agents said they witnessed a van picking immigrants up there as well.

Tanks is located in both World Golf Village and Nocatee. Action News Jaxs Robert Grant visited the location on Tuscan Way. An employee there said she has not seen the managers around and was unaware of the federal charges.

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Rebecca Black, an immigration attorney in Jacksonville, said its more common than expected.

You have a lot of companies desperate for quality help and they cant get it, she said and added that its a problem because of the lack of immigration reform. Theyre not documented because they cant get a visa to be here and they cant get a visa to do what they want to do which is work.

Documents show some of the aliens were here illegally from Guatemala and crossed the Mexico border in Texas about seven years ago.

2022 Cox Media Group

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Managers of well-known Nocatee restaurant accused of harboring undocumented immigrants - ActionNewsJax.com

In 2006, Elvira Arellano sought refuge in a Chicago church to avoid being deported and separated from her U.S.-born son Sal. Her story made national headlines and even made her Time magazines 2006 Person of the Year.

Arellano was deported in 2007 but returned to the U.S. after applying for asylum in 2014. In 2017, a U.S. immigration court granted her a stay of removal.

Today, she continues her work in defense of human rights as the founder of La Familia Latina Unida, a Chicago-based illegal immigration advocacy organization. She stood before hundreds of people and organizations in support of immigrant rights at Chicagos 2022 May Day March from Union Park to the Haymarket Memorial.

May Day is a day to commemorate the martyrs of Chicago and all those who have fought before us, Arellano said. Today we are here to rebuild our fight, not only to improve our wages and benefits, but also to continue fighting and get out of the shadows.

Between inflation and Covid-19, Americans have faced an uphill battle to earn a living and access child care. These economic difficulties are intensified for an often overlooked segment of the workforce: undocumented immigrants.

Undocumented workers make up about four percent of the essential U.S. workforce and 17 percent of the nations overall workforce, and hold a variety of low-paying and high-paying jobs, according to FWD.us. Following the onset of the pandemic, millions became susceptible to unemployment and Covid-19 infection.

Our immigrant families were the front-line workers who kept this economy going, Sal Arellano said. Many of them lost their lives. They did everything for this country. Today is the reason why we stand with them and are ready to fight for their rights.

Last September, the workers of the El Milagro tortilla factory, one of the most popular manufacturers of tortillas across the nation, began their demonstration for safer working conditions, better wages and hours and Sundays off. They joined with the pro-immigrant and labor organization, Arise Chicago, to help defend their rights and achieve their wishes.

Prior to being endorsed by Arise Chicago, factory employees reportedly faced threats to their immigration status for participating in the demonstration, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Generally speaking, no matter what kind of job they are in, workers have the right to organize and/or unionize, regardless of your documentation status, said Jessica Cook-Qurayshi, director of the Center for Labor Education at DePaul University.

In April, workers at El Milagro and Arise Chicago announced several victories, but say they are still pushing for more changes, including having Sundays off.

Workers are no longer required to work seven days in a row and have seen improvements in the workplace, such as anti-sexual harassment training for managers and air conditioning in dining rooms, according to Block Club Chicago. They have also seen salary increases totaling more than $1 million.

La DePaulia asked Jorge Mujica, an organizer with Arise Chicago, why it is important for El Milagro workers to have Sundays off.

Family, Mujica said. It is traditional in Catholic families to go to mass together and then go out to eat. So it means a lot. If you are not with your children on Sundays, when are you with your children?

El Milagro is using a really stupid excuse.They say that everyone has to work on Sundays because the public wants fresh tortillas. That is ridiculous. When do you go to the supermarket and check the date on your tortillas? You buy six packages and you freeze two, you use the rest and they last you three, four, five days. Makes no sense.

The achievements of the El Milagro workers have inspired other workers in the city to contact and be supported by Arise Chicago.

We are all essential workers and therefore we must fight to be included, Arellano said. We are going on a labor strike for immigration reform. We dont know if were leaving, we dont know if were staying, but for now, were fighting. Migrants are not criminals, we are international workers.

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'And what about us?' : Migrants from Chicago continue to fight for immigration reform and labor rights - The Depaulia

You know about theoldBig Liethatthe 2020 election was stolen.

Heresthe new Big Lie Republicans in Congresscareabout illegal immigrationat theU.S.-Mexicoborder.

If they really cared, theydfixthe problem. Instead, they are happy to use it to falsely accusePresident Biden andDemocrats of wanting open borders.

Another round ofalarmistRepublicanshoutingabout the border willbeginnext week when the Biden administration plans to end the use of Title 42. Thispublic health law has been used to stop migrants from legally seeking asylum in the U.S.

Title 42became lawin 1944, aimed atpreventing the spread of diseases liketuberculosisand malaria. In 2020, as the pandemic hit,theTrump administration usedTitle 42as a flimsypatchtoslowthe flow of migrants crossing the border.

Now, with the danger fromCOVID-19 past its peak and most mandates lifted,there is little justification for the use of Title 42 at the border.

But more than 80 percent of Trump-led Republicans say it should be kept, at least for now.

On the other hand,64 percent of Democrats want to stopthe inappropriate use of Title 42 at the border,according to a recent CNN/SSRS poll.

SenateRepublicans are currently threatening to withhold votesfor funds that would aid COVID-19 prevention and treatment.They are demanding a vote on anamendment to continue using Title 42 at the border.

Republicans are gambling with the health security of the nation, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said last week.I dont think Title 42 has anything to do with COVID.

Senate Majority Whip DickDurbin (D-Ill.) has said Democrats may haveno choice butto give the Republicans a vote on the amendment to getcritically needed moneyformorevaccines.

Durbin knowsRepublicans in the Senate are avoiding work on real immigration reform.

For two years, Title 42 has been used to expel immigrants who cross our border, Durbin,who is also chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote on Twitter earlier this year.

Manyhave been unjustly returned to the danger they fled. It is not a humane or effective solution to securing our border,hewrote.

Durbin istalkingwithSens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) andJohn Cornyn (R-Texas) to see if anyparts ofimmigrationreform cancurrentlyget bipartisan support.

But beginning next week,TV cameraswill berushing to the border asthe far-right inflamesanti-immigrant fear to stir up votes for the upcomingmidterm elections.

In Ohio, J.D. Vance, who won the Republican nomination for Senate, has falsely charged Biden with calling for an open border.Adam Laxalt, running for the GOP Senate nomination in Nevada, has a radio ad that promises he will stop attempts to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

Thatbrand ofpolarized politics is a sink hole forhonestattemptstofix the problem at the border. It does nothing todeal withthe 11 million already in the countryillegally andtheyoung people, Dreamers, who were brought across the border as children and grew up here without citizenship.

Durbinhas seenpreviouspolitical storms derail substantive immigration reform.

Heonce workedwiththe recently deceased Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a strong conservative, on a bill to help Dreamers. It did not pass.

There was a dealwith Senate Republicansin 2013. Butthe GOP majority in theHouse would not vote on it. And in 2018 there was another deal, including $25 billion for Trumps wall, but Republican hardliners got the president to back away.

It is easy todismiss any new effortonimmigration as a lost cause.

But thereis reason to hope that Durbin can succeed this time.

Fifty-sixpercent of Americans favor allowing migrants from Central American countries to seek asylum in the United States, a modest downtick from 63 percent in April 2021, according toa CNN report on its recentpoll.

Also,most of theillegal immigrantsin the U.S. no longerget here by traveling across the Mexican border. They come herefrom all over the world,carryinglegalvisas, land at airports and then overstay the time allotted by the visa.

Whatisclear as the years go by is that the GOP hardliners on immigrationdont have betterideasfor immigration reform. They have noinspired thoughts aboutborder securitybeyond the wall that Trump promised and never fully built.

They have no plan to deal with young people who grew up here, went to school here, after being brought here by their parents.Most Americans want those Dreamers, to have legal status.

Democrats are paralyzed with fear thatin midterm campaigns,Republicans willonce againblame them for the latestimmigrationcrisis.

With Republicanspotentially takingcontrol of the House and Senate after the midterms,the onlyforeseeableopening for reformis now.

Good luckfacing downthe new Big Lie,Sen. Durbin.

Juan Williams is anauthor,and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

Originally posted here:
Juan Williams: The GOPs fake concern on immigration - The Hill

Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Sen. Orrin Hatch discusses his insights on the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 he introduced to bring reforms to the nation's immigration laws for high-skilled workers and an agriculture guest worker program at Zions Bank Building Founders Room, Wednesday, May 1,2013.

By Bernardo Castro | Special to The Tribune

| May 19, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

With the passing of former U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Congress can best honor his legacy of compassionate policy-making by finishing what he started.

In 2001, when I was only 10 years old, Hatch reached across the aisle and joined forces with Democratic colleagues to introduce the first proposal in Congress to give undocumented immigrant minors, often called Dreamers, a legal future in America. Six years prior, my parents had boarded a plane with my siblings and me in hand, and a small box of items to flee dire circumstances in Mexico.

Hatchs legislation was meant to create hope and opportunity for children like me. It would have established a means to earn permanent legal status in the U.S. by completing a two- to four-year degree or serving in the U.S. military before applying.

Twenty-one years later, thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, I have found the hope and opportunity that Hatchs bill outlined but not the permanence. I am proud of my business degree from Brigham Young University, of the small business I co-own with my wife and the life were building in the heart of Utah.

But Congresss failure to pass the original DREAM Act, or any of the many bipartisan iterations of it since, leaves me at risk of being separated from all that I know and being deported to a country in which I have few connections and no memories.

Because DACA was created by administrative action, it remains at risk, leaving recipients like me in a constant state of uncertainty. Recent signaling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals indicates that I and the more than 600,000 current DACA recipients may lose this last thread of protection any day unless Congress finally acts.

To some, it might seem odd that I hold Hatch as a beacon for others to follow amid such a toxic political climate.

In his later years, Hatch cast votes that some construed as anti-immigrant because of his advocacy for bolstering border security funding. But I think Hatch understood that immigration reform demands both parties at the table to make progress on a holistic approach.

In 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 1.7 million encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. This significant increase includes Title 42 expulsions and Title 8 apprehensions. It accounts for single adults, family units and unaccompanied minors, and it paints a picture of a system that is failing and overwhelmed.

Its clear there is a crisis that needs to be addressed with a humane solution.

During the same year, Dreamers contributed $32.9 million in Utah state taxes and held $305.5 million in purchasing power. More than three-quarters of DACA recipients fill roles deemed essential by the Department of Homeland Security, from medical professionals to farmers and ranchers. Our local economy will be faced with a perilous challenge without Dreamers like me in it.

The tendency of both parties is to pick one side of the issue and villainize the other. Under this de facto mode of operation in D.C., everyone loses. And it fails to reflect what most Americans really want: progress.

A recent poll by the National Immigration Forum found that 8 in 10 voters want solutions this year that strengthen the border, create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and ensure a legal and reliable workforce for Americas farmers and ranchers. These focuses are in line with reforms promoted by the Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus, a group of nearly 40 organizations across the faith, business, agriculture, education, national security and advocacy communities.

Sen. Hatch understood these simple tenets:

The border needs securing.

Dreamers need security.

Our workforce needs stability.

To honor Sen. Orrin Hatch, his tenure and his legacy, its time for Congress to get to work.

Bernardo Castro grew up in Hyrum, graduated from high school in Sandy, served an LDS mission in St. George and is the co-founder of Shop Taby, a size-inclusive womens clothing brand, located in Provo.

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Utah Sen. Orring Hatch used to be a leader in defending Dreamers brought to the US as children. - Salt Lake Tribune

There are three numbers Id like you to keep track of as you read this column: 11.3 million, 6 million, and 1.6 million.

The 11.3 million is the number of job openings in this county. The 6 million is the number of unemployed in the United States, and the 1.6 million represents the number of attempted illegal border crossings.

Why did I bring this up?

Simple: reforming and loosening our immigration rules can help address our inflation issues.

Abdul, what are you talking about? You have officially lost your mind. Now granted, most geniuses arent appreciated while alive but hear me out on this one.

Part of the reason for inflation is a worker shortage and employers having to pay more; remember those 11.3 million job openings and 6 million unemployed? For example, a few years ago (i.e., pre-pandemic), a McDonalds employee, on a good day, made $8 an hour; fast forward post-pandemic, that employee now starts anywhere from $13 to $15 an hour. Thats a $5 an hour increase. I have to admit that is not bad for someone who has to end a sentence with would you like fries with that?

Now imagine many restaurants and retail outlets from across the country having to go from $10 to $15 an hour for what is fundamentally low-skilled labor; you can see how this can lead to price increases. And yes, I know about the theories regarding supply chains, gas prices, and too many government dollars chasing too few items. Still, for now, were just talking about the workforce.

So weve got 11.3 million job openings and 6 million people out of work. Now thats where the 1.3 million attempted illegal border crossings come in. Ladies and gentlemen, I maintain that if we want to get inflation under control and other issues, we need to address our worker shortage plain and straightforward. Immigration reform is the quickest way to do it.

We have a lot of job openings and many people who want to come here and have a better life. The math is pretty simple but having the political will to do such things is a different story altogether.

And those job openings are both high-skill and low-skill. For our high-skill wage jobs, we need to make it easier for those visa applicants to come in and get work. For our low-skill wage jobs, I believe we can figure out a solution to get people into those positions. It may take a little more effort, but I think it can be done.

Fundamentally though, despite the arguments that the government is paying people not to work, which is no longer the case (at least at the federal level), our longer-term issue is that the American workforce is getting smaller. We need to replace those retiring workers. And I think easing our immigration rules is one way to accomplish that.

Now, this is where the moaning and gnashing of teeth about securing the border kicks in. However, no one can explain to me what that means or, for that matter, what a secure border looks like. However, suppose we want to address our worker shortage which is one of the causes of inflation because employers have to pay more. In that case, we need to address our immigration and make it easier for people to come here and get the jobs the rest of us are not going to do. And yes, we need to reduce government subsidies to encourage folks on the dole to get off.

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Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics. He is also a licensed attorney in both Indiana and Illinois.

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Immigration and inflation | Opinion | reporter.net - Lebanon Reporter