More than 100 undocumented immigrants detained in Colorado nightclub raid: DEA
Dozens of undocumented immigrants were detained by federal agents in a raid at a nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., early Sunday morning, officials said, as the Trump administration steps up its enforcement efforts across the country.
More than 100 people were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Jonathan Pullen, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rocky Mountain Division special agent in charge, said at a news conference.
DEA officials said more than 200 people, including at least 114 people in the U.S. illegally, were inside the underground nightclub before initial arrests were made shortly before 4 a.m. local time. Pullen said "a few" were detained on outstanding warrants, while most were turned away.
"Only those here illegally or those with warrants were taken into custody. Most partygoers were eventually released," DEA Rocky Mountain wrote in a post on social media platform X.
About 300 law enforcement agents participated in the raid, according to Pullen. Ten federal agencies as well as the local sheriff’s office and police department assisted with the raid.
President Trump touted the raid in a post on his platform Truth Social while seeking to tie the enforcement effort to some of his more controversial deportation moves that have sparked battles with various courts across the country, including the Supreme Court.
“A big Raid last night on some of the worst people illegally in our Country — Drug Dealers, Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes, and Judges don’t want to send them back to where they came from. If we don’t win this battle at the Supreme Court, our Country, as we know it, is FINISHED! It will be a Crime ridden MESS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted, along with video of agents confronting fleeing patrons.
In the video, police begin to smash a window as red and blue police lights flash on the building. Multiple people then exit a nearby door and attempt to run past parked vehicles as police yell at them, with several agents appearing to point weapons at some individuals.
Another video shared by the president and administration accounts showed agents with badges indicating they were with various federal law enforcement offices, including the DEA, FBI, ICE, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the IRS’s law enforcement arm. In the video, a long line of individuals stand with zip ties on their hands apparently waiting to board a bus.
Pullen said authorities were investigating the club for “a number of months” before conducting Sunday’s raid.
“This morning [DEA] apprehended over 100 illegal aliens at an underground night club frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X, referring to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the international gang MS-13.
The DEA said weapons and illicit drugs were recovered in the raid. Bondi said cocaine, meth and pink cocaine were seized. Two people were arrested on existing warrants, she said.
Among those encountered by law enforcement were “more than a dozen active duty military” who were patrons or security at the nightclub, the DEA said in a social media post.
Some service members of Fort Carson, an Army post in Colorado Springs, were present at the nightclub, a spokeswoman told The New York Times on Sunday night.
“Each person involved in this incident is presumed innocent until proven guilty. We will look at everyone’s situation on a case-by-case basis,” the spokeswoman told the Times. “Illegal activities of any kind do not represent our military values.”
The DEA special agent indicated the Army Criminal Investigation Division would be involved in the investigation.
A spokesperson for the Army post did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment late Sunday.