More than 100 immigrants detained at an illegal after-hours nightclub in
Colorado
[April 28, 2025]
By JOHN RABY
More than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the United States
illegally were taken into custody early Sunday following a federal raid
at an illegal after-hours nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
authorities said.
Video posted online by the Drug Enforcement Administration showed agents
announcing their presence outside the building and ordering patrons to
leave with their hands up. Other videos showed dozens of people fleeing
the building through its entrance after federal agents smashed a window.
Later, dozens of suspects were shown in handcuffs standing on a sidewalk
waiting to be transported.
During his second stint as U.S. president, Donald Trump ’s unprecedented
campaign of immigration enforcement has pushed the limits of executive
power, and he has clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him.
The crackdown has included detaining more than 1,000 international
college students, some of whom have seen their legal status restored, at
least temporarily. The policies have slowed immigration at the southern
border to a relative trickle.
On Sunday in Colorado, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the
club-going immigrants into custody, said Jonathan Pullen, special agent
in charge of the DEA's Rocky Mountain Division.
“Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer community today,” he said. The
city, Colorado's second largest, lies about 70 miles (113 kilometers)
south of Denver.
More than 300 law enforcement officers and officials from multiple
agencies responded to the nightclub, which had been under investigation
for several months for alleged activities including drug trafficking,
prostitution and “crimes of violence,” Pullen said at a news conference.
Cocaine was among the drugs found, he said.
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In this image taken from video released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, officers stop a patron from a nightclub where a raid
occurred Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration via AP)
“When the cops showed up at the door, most of the drugs hit the
floor,” Pullen said.
An undisclosed number of guns were seized, he said.
Trump posted a link to the DEA video of the raid on his social media
site, Truth Social. “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,” the president wrote.
Pullen estimated more than 200 people were inside the nightclub.
Also among those detained were a dozen active-duty military members
who either were patrons or working as armed security. Some patrons
were arrested on undisclosed outstanding warrants, Pullen said.
Pullen did not specify the countries where the detained immigrants
were from.
Earlier this month a federal judge in Colorado temporarily blocked
deportations of immigrants who face possible removal under Trump’s
invocation of an 18th century law known as the Alien Enemies Act.
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