Sushi Cafe on Riverside Ave Closed by US Immigration

[stjr]

For those who thought we had too many sushi places, there now appears to be one less:

Jacksonville sushi restaurant manager jailed for harboring illegal aliens in Riverside
Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-12-03/story/jacksonville-sushi-restaurant-manager-jailed-harboring-illegal-aliens

By Paul Pinkham
A popular Jacksonville sushi restaurant closed abruptly Friday and its manager is being held on charges of harboring illegal aliens who worked at the Riverside eatery.

Ying Lin  also faces deportation to China himself after authorities determined he, too, is in the United States illegally, according to a criminal complaint filed in court late Friday afternoon by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Lin, known as Johnny, managed and was vice president of the Sushi Cafe at Riverside Avenue and Margaret Street, the complaint says. Immigration officials also suspect, but couldn’t confirm, he is the owner, the complaint says.

A sign on the restaurant’s door Friday night read: “Closed today.”

The complaint says the restaurant’s president, identified on corporate documents as Qiang D. Lin,  also has been ordered removed from the country. Qiang Lin wasn’t arrested Friday.

Agent Christopher Note said Ying Lin was housing more than a dozen employees in three apartments across Riverside at Villas of St. Johns. Of those, agents determined four Sushi Cafe employees and an unspecified number of former employees were illegal Chinese immigrants.

Those four Sushi Cafe workers were taken into custody Friday morning. All four admitted through Mandarin interpreters that they were Chinese citizens in the United States illegally, Note said. Two said they hadn’t been paid even though they had worked at the restaurant for several weeks.

The apartment manager told investigators Ying Lin paid the rent and utilities at the apartments, which were leased by Sushi Cafe. The lease and checks were signed by Ying Lin.

Note said agents had been surveilling the restaurant since early last year when they received a tip and determined Ying Lin was related to another person investigated for human smuggling and harboring illegal aliens. They occasionally even dined at the restaurant.

Agents said the restaurant reported five employees with gross wages totaling $24,600 to the Florida Department of Revenue.

“This contradicted what ... ICE special agents had observed while conducting surveillance,” Note said, noting the cafe had 15 employees at any given time.

Ying Lin had been ordered to leave the country voluntarily in 2004 but never departed, Note said. He was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge last year, but the hearing was postponed because of the investigation.

Also Friday morning, Ying Lin was questioned by immigration agents at his Riverside Avenue apartment and subsequently detained. He told agents he anticipated the arrest because of his own immigration issues but declined to discuss the harboring allegations, Note said.

U.S. Magistrate Thomas Morris ordered him held without bail at least until a detention hearing Tuesday.

[Coolyfett]

Competition blew the whistle! Look foreign people have been doing this for YEARS! The Arabics, Africans & Chinese are MASTERS at this craft, they bring the people here, give them a place to stay, give them a job in exchange for a free place, and supply basic needs like food, all utilities are paid by the person who brought them over. Call it slavery if you want, but its just global competition. Keeping them illegal keeps the workers from leaving. As long as they are in the country, they will work for free & be provided for. This is not a new hustle, many foriegners do this, Bring 4 people over, buy their cars, put them all in the same apartments or apartment & there you have it free workers & a god mine.

[Omarvelous09]

This is truly sad... I've been eating there since it opened, but i always suspected that something fishy was up.

[BigGuy219]

I hope everyone at Wasabi Asian Buffet is legal. I go 3 times a week!

[peestandingup]

hmm

Illegal immigration and a little slavery in Five Points.

Thats a shame.  Its a popular little place.

Popular? Yes. Good?? Not really. I never understood the attraction to this place. Its overpriced for the quality you get. Hopefully something better replaces it.

Maybe it was just the location?? That's probably it since the Starbucks across the way is always crowded too & the coffee tastes like it was brewed using burnt ashes.

[BridgeTroll]

Illegal immigration (slavery) is a huge problem no matter what nationality of illegal immigrant.  Reform is needed now.

[Singejoufflue]

ah. because our existing laws make it legal?
[/quote]

Does it matter how many laws we have or what the laws say if they aren't being enforced? 5 years between Lin's initial mandate to leave the country and his "follow-up" hearing?  We foreclose on "legal" families faster.  This only became an issue when the gov't saw they weren't getting sufficient tax money.  They got a two-fer in this case.

[ChriswUfGator]

hmm

Illegal immigration and a little slavery in Five Points.

Thats a shame.  Its a popular little place.

Popular? Yes. Good?? Not really. I never understood the attraction to this place. Its overpriced for the quality you get. Hopefully something better replaces it.

I know, it sucks! I used to pitch a fit about going there, I have a couple friends who like it for some reason.

Actually, all the Sushi in Riverside sucks now that Sumo changed hands and went downhill. I have to drive to Fuji Sushi in the Roosevelt Mall, that's the only decent sushi around here now, but I guess that's technically the westside. I don't understand how Riverside can have a dozen sushi restaurants and all of them stink.

[stjr]

Try Kobe Japanese Fusion Cafe next to Tree Steak House in Mandarin at Mandarin Road and San Jose Blvd, a few blocks south of I-295.  The quality is first rate and the prices fair.  Only open about 3 or 4 months but the owner is from NYC and knows how to do it right.  Presentation of food is first class too.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/44/481103/restaurant/Southside/Kobe-Japanese-Fusion-Style-Sushi-Steak-Jacksonville

[ChriswUfGator]

Try Kobe Japanese Fusion Cafe next to Tree Steak House in Mandarin at Mandarin Road and San Jose Blvd, a few blocks south of I-295.  The quality is first rate and the prices fair.  Only open about 3 or 4 months but the owner is from NYC and knows how to do it right.  Presentation of food is first class too.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/44/481103/restaurant/Southside/Kobe-Japanese-Fusion-Style-Sushi-Steak-Jacksonville

I will definitely try that out! Thanks for the recommendation. Always looking for good sushi here.

[SecularHumanist]

I've heard good things about Kobe Japanese Fusion Cafe also, so we may try it out.   One of our favorite places so far has been the Fuji Sushi over in Arlington, but for all I know they have the same labor practices as the recently closed place here in Riverside.   I do know it is Chinese owned and operated, and that the staff is housed at nearby apartment complexes by the owner.   Also they speak Mandarin rather than Cantonese which is another tip-off.  Sigh.

If a person is trying to eat ethically, should places like this be avoided?   I'm honestly not sure.   I do automatically vote against any politician who uses inflammatory rhetoric to incite passions against legal immigration, so maybe that is enough.  

[simms3]

I saw this in the FTU.  Hilarious!  But sad!  Many a memory at the Sushi Cafe (hey it's been open for the better part of a decade, which is pretty damn good for a restaurant...because of that I think ICE should be forgiving...simply because they ran a truly successful business)

[cityimrov]

I saw this in the FTU.  Hilarious!  But sad!  Many a memory at the Sushi Cafe (hey it's been open for the better part of a decade, which is pretty damn good for a restaurant...because of that I think ICE should be forgiving...simply because they ran a truly successful business)

The slavery part though........

Of course, if your read the comments on the bottom of that article, you'll notice nobody actually cared about the slavery part and more about the illegal immigration part. 

[BridgeTroll]

 

That would leave them more time to shoot at brown people.

[RockStar]

This is truly sad... I've been eating there since it opened, but i always suspected that something fishy was up.

LOL