More than 100 immigrants, allegedly in the country illegally, were detained in Colorado Springs after an overnight raid at what authorities described as an underground nightclub in a strip mall.
Over a dozen active-duty military members were also at the club during the raid, and federal officials said some were working at the illicit operation.
“What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence,” DEA Rocky Mountain Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan C. Pullen said at a news conference Sunday morning. “We seized a number of guns in there. We had active-duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes. And in fact, we had over 100 illegal aliens inside as well.”
Drugs found at the underground club included cocaine and so-called pink cocaine, also known as “tusi,” Pullen said.
Those believed to be in the US illegally were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pullen said, while the active-duty service members were handed over to the US Army Criminal Investigation Division.
CNN has reached out to ICE and the US Army for more details.
Video posted online by the DEA Sunday morning showed federal officers breaking a large front window of a nondescript building as people fled through the door into the night, only to be stopped by additional armed federal agents. Some of those stopped were wearing dresses and outfits suitable for a nightclub.
Hundreds of agents across over 10 federal agencies participated in the raid, and more than 200 people were inside the club when authorities arrived, Pullen said.
The nightclub had been under surveillance by the DEA and partner agencies for “a number of months,” and authorities documented drug trafficking, prostitution, and the presence of members from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Hells Angels, according to Pullen.
“I don’t have the information about whether those members were there tonight, but we’re still working through a lot of that, because we have so many people in custody,” Pullen said.
“Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning,” he said.
Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff, commented on the raid Sunday morning on X, saying it was an operation between DHS and the Department of Justice, adding more information was to come.
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