The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly arrested an alleged sushi-slinging spy, 61-year-old Ming Xi Zhang. Zhang, also known as ‘Sushi John,’ is the owner of Ya Ya Noodles in Montgomery Township, New Jersey. He was arrested by the ICE in Newark.
Zhang’s arrest comes at a time when the ICE has ramped up deportations under President Donald Trump’s push for mass removals of illegal immigrants. Several mass deportations have already been carried out.
Who is Ming Xi Zhang?
In April 2024, Zhang was convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. He was subsequently sentenced to three years’ probation. Zhang pleaded guilty in May 2021 to having served as an agent of China in 2016 without notifying the US Attorney General.
According to the ICE, Zhang legally entered the United States in 2000. However, he later “violated the terms of his lawful admission,” it added.
“Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage or export control against the United States is subject to deportation,” said ICE Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris, according to the ICE website.
NJ.com reported that Zhang met with Chinese security officials in the Bahamas in 2016, and went on to deliver $35,000 to an unnamed person in New Jersey. He even confessed that he hosted a Chinese government agent at his Princeton home that fall, twice.
{{/usCountry}}NJ.com reported that Zhang met with Chinese security officials in the Bahamas in 2016, and went on to deliver $35,000 to an unnamed person in New Jersey. He even confessed that he hosted a Chinese government agent at his Princeton home that fall, twice.
{{/usCountry}}Zhang is now being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center awaiting immigration proceedings, a worker at his restaurant confirmed to the New York Post. “He’s doing good, I mean, given the circumstances,” the worker said. “But yeah, he’s just kind of waiting… to get let out.”
Following Zhang’s arrest, the community surrounding his eatery has been rallying around him and his restaurant. “The whole town has been really supportive,” the worker said. “Everyone’s been coming in, offering phone numbers, talking to his family . . . everyone’s really supportive.”