Kitchens Close to Avoid Rumored ICE Raids at Kid Rock’s Nashville Bar

The kitchen at Kid Rock’s Nashville bar was forced to shut down when managers sent home employees who are not in the U.S. legally after rumors of an ICE raid began circulating.
Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, licensed his name to Trump supporter and restaurateur Steve Smith — who runs the establishment in downtown Nashville called “Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.”
But this month, the eatery abruptly shut down its kitchen in the middle of a busy evening after managers learned of an impending raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Rock’s restaurant was not the only one to close its kitchen a few weekends ago as multiple establishments in Nashville sent staff home due to the rumors of ICE raids.
“We were already understaffed because of the ICE raids throughout the weekend,” an employee told Nashville Sene. “Then, around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, our manager came back and told anyone without legal status to go home. Events at the Ryman, Ascend, the Savannah Bananas’ baseball game all let out, and it was crazy busy. But there was no one in the kitchen to cook the food.”
Neither Ritchie nor Smith have commented on the news.
Restaurants and bars across the city have remained understaffed as employees have chosen to stay home in light of the increased presence of immigration officials in and around Nashville.
Around the same time, ICE agents and state police set up road blocks and arrested dozens of illegal aliens in traffic stops.
The increased ICE presence in Nashville incensed the city’s radical, left-wing Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who has since begun further limiting the ability of city officers and the police and fire department to work with ICE officials in the pursuit of immigration enforcement.
O’Connell has repeatedly insisted that criminal illegals are “Nashville citizens” and is now requiring police to inform his “Office of New Americans” when ICE contacts them for assistance.
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