Mentioning ICE Raids at My Nashville Bar Is ‘Clickbait’

Kid Rock seems to have no problem with ICE conducting raids at his Nashville bar, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse. Over the weekend, according to a story in the Nashville Scene, managers at the location sent home undocumented employees working in their kitchen during an evening rush to avoid raids. Rock is involved with the restaurant — according to a new tweet from Rock himself, largely in name only — while owner Steve Smith leads operations. Rock and Smith overlap in their support of Donald Trump and his immigration policies, despite relying on the immigrants who work in the restaurant.

“Clearly I do not have anything to do with day to day operations at my Honky Tonk – but it’s good click bait, I get it,” Rock said on X, responding to a headline that referred to the restaurant as the “next target for Trump’s sweeping ICE raids.” “That being said I 100% support getting illegal criminals out of our country no matter where they are. I also like President Trump want to speed up the process of getting GREAT immigrants into our country – LEGALLY! It’s that simple folks. But the below is not a juicy enough headline to get clicks and views.. in this day and age the truth often is not.”

On Saturday, an employee at one of Smith’s restaurants shared insight into how operations have changed since the increase in raids. Speaking with the Scene on condition of anonymity, they said: “We were already understaffed because of the ICE raids throughout the weekend. 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.”

In January, Trump signed a series of executive orders targeting America’s immigrant communities. One attempted to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents without at least one permanent-resident status, while another authorized all Department of Justice law enforcement officers to act as immigration officers. ICE raids across the country began almost immediately and have increased in intensity since. Immigrants without criminal records have been targeted, in addition to U.S. citizens being detained and deported.

Newark, New Jersey, mayor Ras Baraka was recently arrested at an ICE facility on a trespassing charge, while children who are U.S. citizens have been deported along with their immigrant parents. The Trump administration has shown a continued noncompliance with court orders mandating due process for migrants. At places like Kid Rock’s Nashville honky-tonk — regardless of whether its owner and namesake approve — employees seem to be looking out for the immigrants in their communities. Especially since no one else is.