On Wednesday, Homeland Security raided two local sushi restaurants — one in Ponte Vedra and the other in Jax Beach.
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Action News Jax first brought you the breaking news at noon when agents were at Kamiya 86 on 3rd Street in Jax Beach.
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One employee of a nearby business told Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez off camera that they had seen a van full of men come and go to work almost every day at the raided restaurant.
The Kamiya 86 at the Ponte Vedra location also had a raid with what nearby businesses said had caused quite a commotion.
“It was a crazy experience for sure,” nearby worker Jordan Ladson said. “The entire plaza was surrounded by ICE and Border Patrol, different government officials, and they were all chasing down this white van.”
When Ladson went to work at Stretch Lab Wednesday morning, he saw Kamiya 86, just a few doors down, get surrounded by federal agents.
ORIGINAL STORY: Homeland Security Investigations responding to Jacksonville Beach restaurant Kamiya 86
“When one of my employees was coming into work, she said they were all screaming at the driver, ‘get out of the car, get out of the car,’ but that’s as far as I know,” Ladson said.
Business Owners in Jax Beach say they saw Homeland Security, Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Jax Beach Police.
Pictures and videos appear to show them towing away two vans from the Jax Beach location.
State records appear to show the two locations have different owners. The one in Ponte Vedra is owned by H & Ke Group Inc, while the one in Jax Beach is owned by Deluxe Zheng Inc.
Homeland Security is leading this case and says they can’t provide more information since this is an ongoing investigation.
Either way, Ladson and other workers experienced a chaotic day of cops and agents disrupting their workday.
“It was an eventful morning for sure,” Ladson said. “It was weird to be stretching one of my clients while looking out the window and seeing cops running back and forth.”
While the Ponte Vedra location was closed- the one here at Jax Beach was open for its normal hours today.
A worker from the Jax Beach location told Gutierrez they have nothing to hide.
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Source Agencies
