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Huron Chinese Buffet Manager Pleads Guilty to Employing Unauthorized Aliens

Published 2023-10-20 by Cory Allen Heidelberger

Look out, CAFO operators! The feds have busted a Huron restaurant manager for employing unauthorized aliens:

Zeng Quiang Yang, Factual Basis Statement, USA v. Yang, 2023.10.19.
Zeng Quiang Yang, Factual Basis Statement, USA v. Yang, 2023.10.19.

By pleading guilty, the former Huron Panda Garden manager gets out of charges from his May 2022 indictment on two counts of encouraging and inducing an alien to come work illegally in America for his own financial gain. For the reduced charge of engaging in a pattern and practice of hiring unauthorized aliens, Yang has to pay a $6,000 fine—$3K for each illegal hire. Yang also must allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to inspect the records he has on any current and former employees in any South Dakota business he has his fingers in and conduct further quarterly, possibly surprise, inspections for the next five years. (Funny—I’d think ICE could come in and do that on any business.) The plea agreement also requires Yang to use E-Verify and provide information on employment law to employees in English and Spanish.

Published in South Dakota

17 Comments

  1. Mark B

    What must you have done to get in trouble in HURON of all places for employing illegal aliens? I’d think they could shut down the whole town if they wanted to. Thats like a speeding ticket for going 56 in a 55.. has to be more to it.

    2023-10-20
  2. Mark B

    Must not have been current on his ‘dues’ to the local authorities .

    2023-10-20
  3. Loren

    I guess Kristi should have sent those Army Guard troops to Huron instead of Texas. Protect South Dakota first! ;-)

    2023-10-20
  4. bearcreekbat

    I appreciate that Cory refrains from using the term “illegal immigrant” in his story. I find it disheartening the Mark B apparently is comfortable using that label, which seems derogatory and harmful to decent people (i.e. immigrants, their children, and non-thinking individuals that parrot such terms thoughtlessly). Anyway, I always wondered why such a term was appealing to those who use it and finally found some suggestions in this online article:

    https://www.nwirp.org/illegal-vs-undocumented-a-nwirp-board-members-perspective/

    The article also lists several reasons why such term is considered misuse of legal terms and even morally harmful. These reasons make more sense to me than the reasons identified for using that term that onlt can denigrate other people and their families::

    The legal grounds include:
    it is legally misleading because it connotes criminality, while presence in the U.S. without proper documents is a civil offense, not a criminal one;
    it is legally inaccurate because it is akin to calling a criminal defendant “guilty” before a verdict is rendered;
    it is legally imprecise because it implies finality even though immigration status is fluid and, depending on individual circumstances, can be adjusted;
    it is technically inaccurate because it labels the individual as opposed to the actions the person has taken.

    The moral grounds include
    the term scapegoats individual immigrants for problems that are largely systemic;
    the term divides and dehumanizes communities and is used to discriminate against people of color;
    the term creates an environment of hate by exploiting racial fear;
    the term affects attitudes toward immigrants and non-immigrants alike, most often toward people of African, Asian, Central American and Mexican descent;
    the term impacts the way young people feel about themselves and their place in the world;
    the term increases the American public’s tolerance for daily violations of human rights;
    the term is a code word for racial and ethnic hatred;
    the term is outdated, offensive, and implicitly carries with it negative connotations.

    The author adds the following accurate historical observation:

    In addition to the legal and moral grounds set forth above, I would like to offer an additional ground as a basis to reject the term “illegal immigrant” – history. It is critical to view the words we use through a lens grounded in historical context – for doing so can promote a powerful shift in the discourse about immigrants in the U.S.. Indeed, recognizing that this land was colonized by European immigrants; that slavery was in fact forced immigration from Africa that this nation depended upon for its success for three centuries; that many immigrants were made “immigrants” through conquest and/or targeted recruitment by the U.S.; that immigrants play a critical role in the agricultural, industrial and economic growth of this country – reveals the hypocrisy, historical amnesia and racism that undergird the term “illegal immigrant” and also makes apparent the negating attributes of terms like “undocumented.”

    2023-10-20
  5. jerry

    Working in the back of the house is hard hard work. There are few White takers for this kind of work as with CAFO workers. South Dakota could actually start a trend up by being an administrator of immigrant labor by working with the Mexican Consulate in Omaha. https://www.consulate-info.com/consulate/14373/Mexico-in-Omaha South Dakota has two senators with one being high ranking to petition the Biden Administration for direction. Without a better handle on immigration, there will continue to be exploitation of those that seek work.

    So, where did these workers go then? Did they have children in the Huron schools? What about them? Did they just disappear into the fabric of underground employers and exploiters?

    2023-10-20
  6. Francis Schaffer

    Jerry
    I believe using marginalized people is a feature not a flaw of capitalism

    2023-10-20
  7. Richard Schriever

    Mark wrongly associates all of Huron’s immigrants with an “illegal” status.

    2023-10-20
  8. Richard Schriever

    Huron is the most ethnically diverse city in SD.

    2023-10-20
  9. Arlo Blundt

    The Feds could be bringing South Dakotans to court every day on similar charges. No surprise here.

    2023-10-20
  11. jerry

    Shad olson is the jim jordan of South Dakota. What a couple of losers that think what they say and do is important. Dude is a news reader, nothing more than that. All he has to do is sit in a chair and read what someone else puts in front of him.

    2023-10-20
  12. P. Aitch

    Jobs? Colorado’s got jobs a plenty and good ones, at that.
    Today Colorado secured a federal designation as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hub) focused on the advancement of the quantum industry.

    Colorado leads the world in quantum companies, quantum jobs, and quantum innovation, and this Tech Hub designation will position the state to accelerate the development of the industry while creating new, good-paying jobs for Coloradans.

    Nearly half of Quantum jobs do not require an advanced degree, and the share of technician positions is projected to double in five years as the industry’s need for skilled trades like welding, pipe fitting and machining grows. The average quantum job pays over $125,000 per year.

    2023-10-20
  13. Todd Epp

    I’m simply shocked—and a little concerned—that there is a Chinese restaurant in Huron! What’s next, an Italian joint?

    Huron’s greatest hope is to someday be Aberdeen.

    2023-10-20
  14. Arlo Blundt

    Mr. Epp-Huronites would settle for being Mitchell.

    2023-10-20
  15. P. Aitch

    Watertown had a chance to be like Huron. You know, inclusive, empathetic, and empowering. Instead they tolerate the false prophet Deutsch. It’s become just another Bullet Farm.

    2023-10-21
  16. LCJ

    Phony physician, False Fred is from Florence and does not live in Watertown although he is in the Watertown School District and was formerly on the school board before running for state office.

    2023-10-21
  17. Sonia Jenner

    Fred is also a shill for the Catholic Church, in my humble opinion, he is getting paid to be out in Pierre and who knows what the Catholic Church pays him to be a main leader that only follows the church laws, it is sickening to say the least.But in Codington County the repubs have the votes so anything goes, he was never a medical Dr , he was a chiropractor, I have no hope of our state even becoming purple, too many people vote for anyone who has an R after their name.Our largest Chinese restaurant closed its door about a month ago, I wonder if it didn’t have the same problems, and just to set the record straight, immigrants are not illegal aliens, aliens are the little green men who snatch little kids out of their beds

    2023-11-05

Comments are closed.