Pro-Trump Nashville Restauranteur Forced to Shutter Kitchens in Fear of ICE Raids

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

May 15th, 2025, 9:27 am


Steve Smith, a prominent Trump donor and conservative Nashville bar owner, was forced to close kitchens at three of his high-volume Broadway properties over the weekend, as management told workers afraid of being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to go home.

According to one employee, staff were told to go home mid-shift Saturday night after ICE activity surged in the area. The decision impacted staff at The Diner, Honky Tonk Central, and Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk.

“We were already understaffed because of the ICE raids throughout the weekend,” one worker told the Nashville Scene. “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.”

Sources say staffing shortages persisted through Sunday as employees stayed home, afraid of arrest. Smith, who has vocally opposed public health mandates and backed right-wing candidates, now finds his businesses stalled by the very immigration crackdown his politics support.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/news/pro-trump-nashville-restauranteur-forced-to-shutter-kitchens-in-fear-of-ice-raids/

[marble falls]

1. It's good for the idiots to get caught up the unintended consequences they set up. This might be one way to ...

... to get kitchen wages up.

AS IF.

[Lonestarblue]

2. Too bad, so sad. Vote for a fascist and a moron, you get fascism and moronic results.

[mwmisses4289]

3. In the FO phase, are you, restaurant dude?

[ms liberty]

4. Well bless his heart.

[JBTaurus83]

5. If anyone is to be arrested

it should be the business owner's for not doing their legal duty of checking required documents. I don't hear this brought up often.

[PJMcK]

8. But the owner is a Republican! (n/t)

[OMGWTF]

67. Repeat after me: IOKIYAR

[Attilatheblond]

35. Agree, but the way ICE is operating, even legal residents & citizens seem to be getting hauled in

It seems to be an issue of skin tone and language. Goes beyond bad employers not checking status. But I am all for hauling in illegal EMPLOYERS too.

[slightlv]

68. This is just what I told my hubby last night...

we've had arrested while driving black for decades. Now we have grabbed for driving brown. It's not about any papers being checked, etc. (although we are suppose to be free in our persons to not have to carry papers!), it's about being kidnapped through nothing more than your skin color or your gender. I read where some women are having trouble driving into Canada from the U.S. I keep saying, as much as trump loves walls... walls don't really keep people out, but they sure can keep them IN, where they can either be controlled or killed. Someday someone is going to tell dufus what consequences his policies have had on "brain drain" here in the U.S. and that's it already at a point of no return.

[Ohioboy]

50. If owners send them home, does that mean the owners are interfering with ICE?

They arrested a judge for interfering with ICE. Shouldn't these Trump supporting restaurant owners be subjected to the same treatment.
Personally, I agree with the owners trying to help their people not get arrested, but I'm always for Trump supporters getting maximum consequences. That's just me.

[Norrrm]

62. Good point.

[hadEnuf]

73. I'm sure the Republican owner doesn't give a shit if the immigrants get arrested at home.

He just doesn't want to be filmed having them dragged out in shackles from HIS restaurant.

Would be a bad look for him.

[PJMcK]

6. Let me get this straight

This "restaurateur" is a hard-core Trump supporter. Yet he hires illegals to work in his bars. Now he's surprised that his workers are being targeted?

So what does he do? He tries to hide his illegals from Trump's ICE thugs. Now that he's in the news, they'll be keeping an eye on his establishments.

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy? Clearly this guy has no self-awareness or ethics.

[JBTaurus83]

7. I was thinking the same

no way he can re-open now without hiring new staff.

[Bengus81]

21. Isn't hiding them from ICE illegal? It was for that Dem Judge.

[NoRethugFriends]

10. Maybe find a better word than illegals?

[IbogaProject]

16. Undocumented Migrants was the legal term last Administration

And how it works is they often have "documents" but the owners know those are not legit and maybe some of the "payroll" is cash. Not excusing it, especially w voting GOP.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. That IS how it works

The people they hire all have the required documents - a state issued picture ID (usually a driver's license) and a Social Security card. If there are citizens, they have to provide a work permit (AKA green card).

The employer makes copies of these documents and has the employee fill out a W4 and an I-9. All these documents go in their employee folder.

There NO REQUIREMENT that employers check the validity of any of these documents. The is an online system called E-Verify, but employers ARE NOT REQUIRED to use it. Every time someone in Congress suggests verification should be mandatory, it's shot down by the GOP as being an "unnecessary burden" to businesses.

[LauraInLA]

39. I don't know why, but I thought e-verify was required for employers with over a certain number of employees.

I guess I’m not surprised the Republicans don’t push that issue; it would target too many of their own.

[markodochartaigh]

57. Seems like it varies by state.

https://workforce.equifax.com/e-verify-state-requirements

[LauraInLA]

58. Ah, thank you! Even dumber of them.

[Mosby]

59. The employer fills out the I-9.

And then the form is saved in a secure location.

[Prairie Gates]

46. Not just "illegals," but "his illegals"

Good God.

Yeesh. We're never going to learn, are we?

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Thank you for using the correct spelling/word, which Mediaite got wrong

What Happened to the N in Restaurateur?

A restaurateur in the Middle Ages was a medical assistant who would help ready patients for surgery. Soon these “restorers” became known for the special meat-based rich soup they would prepare to restore and fortify a person physically and spiritually. That restorative soup was called “restaurant.” It wasn’t until later that the place where those soups (and other healthy victuals) were served also became known as a restaurant. After the French Revolution of 1789, chefs who used to be in the service of aristocrats began opening public eating places serving all kinds of foods—not just healthy soups. That’s when the restaurant as we now know it by its current name and style began to take shape.

So, interestingly enough, the restaurateur came before the restaurant, and there was never an n to drop.

Also, remember that the word is pronounced like it is spelled. So if you want to sound professional in a place of business that serves food and beverages to guests to renew their minds and bodies, do not pronounce restaurateur like restaurant with an –er at the end. Merci!

https://www.ciachef.edu/blog/what-happened-to-the-n-in-restaurateur/

[BumRushDaShow]

27. Apparently both terms have been used

although "restaurateur" is more common and preferred over "restauranteur".

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/restauranteur_n?tl=true

Oxford English Dictionary

Revised 2010

restauranteur noun

Factsheet

What does the noun restauranteur mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun restauranteur. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
See meaning & use

How common is the noun restauranteur?
About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English
See frequency

How is the noun restauranteur pronounced?
British English
/ˌrɛstərɑːnˈtəː/
ress-tuh-rahn-TUR
/ˌrɛstərɒnˈtəː/
ress-tuh-ron-TUR

U.S. English
/ˌrɛstərənˈtər/
ress-tuhr-uhn-TURR
/ˌrɛstəˌrɑnˈtər/
ress-tuh-rahn-TURR

See pronunciation

Where does the noun restauranteur come from?
Earliest known use
1830s
The earliest known use of the noun restauranteur is in the 1830s.
OED's earliest evidence for restauranteur is from 1837, in a letter by Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister and novelist.

restauranteur is a variant or alteration of another lexical item.

Etymons: restaurateur n.

[groundloop]

15. Just what we'd expect for someone who owns "Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk"

Fuck him, fuck Kid Rock, and fuck tRump.

[Bengus81]

20. Like I say without HYPOCRISY there would be no Republican party.

[Dr. T]

26. There's a judge in Milwaukee

who was indicted for doing this very same thing.

Based on that, Kash Patel needs to send his masked goon squad to arrest this Trump-sucking asshole. Then, he must release a photo of the perp walk.

[IronLionZion]

30. MAGA loves exploiting cheap labor

while tossing red meat to their racist supporters.

"They're stealing our jobs"

"Nobody wants to work anymore"

How come MAGA voters aren't applying for these jobs?

[Falcon101]

43. Exactly

Are the MAGA lining up for the dishwasher jobs at those places?

[Ocelot II]

53. Maybe they can get the leopards to lick the plates clean

after they're done eating some faces.

[Lemon Lyman]

34. Yup

Knew this would be the case, since it's always about going after the poor while the rich are given a free pass for everything.

Still pisses me off that it's NEVER the business owners who get in trouble for actually hiring & exploiting people. They're always untouchable.

It was like when the Molly Tibbets homicide happened. The right tried to seize on her killer being an immigrant (her family shut that down). There was almost no talk about the rich owner who hired him being responsible for hiring him.

[Attilatheblond]

36. Hiding someone from ICE? Isn't that what got a JUDGE arrested?

Hypocrisy knows no bounds in Trumplandia

[Dock_Yard]

40. I'm sure the workers sent home forfeited their full shift's pay

MAGAt employers *never ever* pay for hours not worked ...

So to me, this is a very two-faced action ...

Protect the workers, but only so that they will come back to work, NOT for true concerns about their freedom.

[Grokenstein]

52. The only surprise is that he warned the staff.

I fully expect such toad-turd hypocrites to stand by laughing, mocking the workers to their faces as they get "disappeared," then running to SendDoughSuckers bawling his lungs out.

[Attilatheblond]

70. This restaruateur can be this month's Poster Boy for Over Entitled and Under Educated.

[sdfernando]

72. "Clearly this guy has no self-awareness or ethics."

Isn't that the definition of republican?

[bronxiteforever]

9. Next headline will be Trump and Smith

to open a joint venture Casino and Restaurant in Nashville.

Problem solved with a little payola

[mn9driver]

41. This This This

Trump will absolutely call these restaurants off limits to ICE if Smith makes the proper purchase or donation. Watch it happen. It will.

[Sailingdiver]

12. Dumb ass is entering the FO stage

But, why isn't the cult idiot being arrested and prosecuted for hiring undocumented workers? Hell, he's admitting as much.

[Captain Zero]

13. That's right. Smith should be arrested

Probably a shitload of undocumented employees in his places.

Someone should ask Bondi about it.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

48. See the "payola" comment above.

[Duppers]

74. "Serves" him right.

[Basso8vb]

14. "Fucking moron" would be an improvement for this fucking imbecile.

#FAFO

[Scrivener7]

17. Ok, yes, he's a moron, but I'm stuck on the fact

that he has so much hatred for the people he works with every day, and on whose backs he makes his living.

[MustLoveBeagles]

18. Well

Isn't that a shame.

[patphil]

19. Is this real concern for the workers, or to protect his business?

He should be proud to see the fruits of his labor, the Trump Presidency, in action.
The loss of his businesses is surely a small price to pay for cleansing the nation of all these illegals.

[Initech]

22. Easy solution: STOP VOTING FOR THIS SHIT!

[Puppyjive]

23. He needs to be arrested

If he is hiring illegals who don't have a social security card, he is violating the law.

[LS0999]

24. These f****** hypocrites deserve to go bankrupt

I hope he loses everything he has..

[Nasruddin]

28. Let's hope we can welcome him to the Resistance

But in the meantime....

[Charlie Chapulin]

25. Nelson Muntz "HA-Ha!" here.

[Aristus]

29. Too fucking bad, asshole.

I hope you die alone, bankrupt, and deeply in debt.

[Raven123]

31. Trump said sometimes you having to take your medicine.

I guess this guy just got a big pill to swallow. But oh those side effects!

[Biophilic]

32. It continues to amaze me how all those "desperate criminals " all seem to have legitimate and necessary jobs.

[Orrex]

33. I congratulate him for getting exactly what he voted for.

[hatrack]

37. This is what you voted for, Fucko.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go and take a long, soothing bath in your frustration and financial losses.

[Warpy]

42. What the fuck did these people think wasgoing to happen when he got in again?

Did they really tjink that stupid gold flag wou,d protect them like lamb's blood on the door posts protected the Hebrews from the last plague?

My best guess says these assholes won't learn a thing, either.

[cstanleytech]

44. I feel bad for the employees but the guy? He can 🖕 himself.

[Prairie Gates]

45. How a person in the food industry can support these ICE policies is completely beyond me

They know, intimately, that their staff is majority undocumented. They know these people and know they are good people and hard workers.

The level of assholery and lack of self-awareness you have to have to profit handsomely from their work (which is also underpaid) while still supporting Trump/Miller immigration rhetoric and policy is truly pathological.

[BumRushDaShow]

47. Not just food but the entirety of the hospitality industry

Watch what happens in the hotels when suddenly, the housekeeping staff disappears.

[Prairie Gates]

63. True

Good point.

[nowforever]

49. 42% of all agriculutural workers are undocumented

Produce rotting in fields right now

[Blue Owl]

51. What a tragedy it would be to lose the Kid Rock Big Ass Honky Tonk

[RazorbackExpat]

83. A tragedy, indeed

[Lovie777]

54. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.....

to figure out the outcome since shithole musk republicans told the American people what they were going to do.

[ananda]

55. Stupidity has no relation to wealth.

LOL

[FullySupportDems]

56. They know they're in danger whether they're here legally or not

So it won't just be people without legal papers who leave. I guess all those in favor of this atrocity happening to illegal immigrants didn't think about that.

[slightlv]

69. They probably did, AFAIK...

they're really after demographic genocide by any means in order to create and maintain a whites-only culture. They don't want POC anywhere in the U.S. -- legal or not, and regardless of how many generations of their families have lived here.

Frankly, I think the Native Americans should raised holy hell and tell all the whites to get out of their country -- that we're all illegal immigrants!

[SayItLoud]

60. Irony

These "business people" can't run a business without labor that they exploit and underpay. Same is happening at MAL and all the tRUMP properties but ICE will never touch the Mushroom DICKtator.

It's NOT the workers responsibility to make a person's biz successful or profitable. If business people can't run their businesses and pay a fair living wage then they should go out of business because their "dream" is not the responsibility of the workers to make happen.

[HAB911]

61. Deport his ass

[Norrrm]

64. Trump and many of his supporters would rather hire 'illegals'/undocs than pay Americans.

Republicans claim the immigrants are taking Americans' jobs.

Good news for republicans - you get your jobs back.

??? Of course not! How could you think such a thing?
.

[JustAnotherGen]

65. Good. eom

[JT45242]

66. Sounds like this guy may have not documented I9 properly..a criminal

I realize many of his employees are likely legally documented immigrants who are fearful of ICe deporting them anyway.

But I'll bet this trump jumper is lax with checking and maintaining documentation on all his employees.

Every trump humping employer should be hit with maximum possible fines for illegal hiring. Plus we should add a hypocrisy penalty, but that would be illegal. Karma of bankruptcy would be good enough

[Attilatheblond]

71. Going out on a limb here, but I figure most people who run food/drink establishments not only know they have undoced

workers, but a lot of them probably 'know a guy' who can provide the papers needed to pretend workers are documented.

[ReRe]

75. Ha! Ain't that something how that works!

Guess he thought the mighty arm of his political party would sweep down and protect him. Ouch!

[Hassler]

76. Cue Nelson Muntz: Ha ha!

[JohnnyRingo]

77. I agree that he can hire legal immigrants.

Also known as US citizens or immigrants with green cards..

I know they cost more, but it seems the restaurateur is turning some serious dime on his locations and could afford to pay a living wage in the kitchen.
This is not "a job Americans won't do" for a decent wage. He's using these people, not employing them.

I don't want these immigrants rounded up and deported, but it's about time millionaires pay the damn help.

[Godot51]

78. Wrong targets...

If "ice" would simply arrest the owners, farmers, managers, and others who hire these "illegals" the problem would quickly be solved.

[Ray Bruns]

79. Exactly.

[oldmanlynn]

80. I wonder why this guy isn't arrested for 18 and a bedding immigrants like the judge

The judge was arrested for having the immigrant, leave her courtroom and I will think that the same thing happened here they had the immigrants go home before the ice activity kind of encroached on them

[SpankMe]

81. If a liberal restaurateur told out-of-status employees to leave the premises due to known ICE activity in the area...

...ICE would probably arrest them for helping undocumented people evade arrest, just like they did with the Wisconsin judge.

The selective enforcement and hypocrisy is staggering. And the media ignores it.

[BobTheSubgenius]

82. Steve Smith is operating a Kid Rock-branded licensing arrangement. What fun!