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More than 100 people who are allegedly in the U.S. unlawfully were arrested in an overnight raid at an underground nightclub in east-central Colorado, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.
At least 114 people were detained and placed on “buses for processing and likely eventual deportation” in Colorado Springs on April 27, according to the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division. The arrests were part of an enforcement operation and drug investigation involving over 300 officers and agents from federal and local agencies, said DEA Rocky Mountain Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen.
“This is an underground illegal nightclub,” Pullen said at a news conference on April 27. “What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, (and) crimes of violence. We seized a number of guns in there.”
Dozens of “small packages of drugs” were also recovered at the scene, including cocaine and a concoction of substances known as “pink cocaine” or “tusi,” Pullen added. More than a dozen active-duty service members were also at the nightclub, with some working as armed security and others as patrons, according to Pullen.
Immigrants who are believed to be undocumented were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pullen said. The Army Criminal Investigation Division will investigate the active-duty service members who were detained, he added.
No one who was arrested at the nightclub has been publicly identified.
The raid occurred just a day after ICE authorities announced that nearly 800 people were arrested in the first few days of Operation Tidal Wave, a multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown in Florida.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, clashing with federal judges as well as state and local officials. Immigration raids across the U.S. have been highly publicized by federal authorities in recent months amid Trump’s push for mass deportations.
AG Pam Bondi alleges nightclub ‘frequented’ by Tren de Aragua
Over 200 people had been inside the underground nightclub for an “illegal party” early on April 27 when officers and agents entered the building, according to the DEA. The agency said it gave multiple warnings telling people inside the building to come out before arrests began at around 3:45 a.m. local time.
Videos and images shared on social media by the DEA showed officers and agents in tactical gear swarming outside the building. One video showed an officer smashing a window on the front of the building as people fled through a door, where additional armed officers and agents were waiting.
In the video, law enforcement authorities were seen shouting at people to stop and get down on the ground. That video showed many people complying by putting their hands up or getting down on their knees.
Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged that the nightclub was “frequented by TdA and MS-13 terrorists.” According to Bondi, two people at the nightclub were also arrested on existing warrants.
The Trump administration has been targeting Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang known as “TdA” for short, blaming the gang for violence and drug trafficking in the U.S. Federal officials have also used the gang as a reason to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, who they claim are members of the gang.
Venezuelan officials have said Tren de Aragua was effectively wiped out in 2023, and the idea that it still exists is based on a claim from the country’s political opposition. Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in March that none of the hundreds of Venezuelans deported by the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison is a member of Tren de Aragua.
In a statement on social media, Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) Chief Adrian Vasquez said the April 27 raid was a “result of a months-long investigation into serious criminal activity in our community.”
“While the investigation is ongoing, arrests for these criminal violations are expected. CSPD is aware that our federal partners also detained multiple people for suspected immigration violations during the operation,” Vasquez said. “CSPD is not authorized to conduct immigration enforcement under Colorado law, and our participation in this operation was solely to address criminal violations affecting the safety of our community.”
Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; Reuters