Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in coordination with a number of other agencies, conducted massive raids in Colorado and Florida over the weekend, detaining nearly 1,000 people.
In Colorado Springs, ICE agents teamed up with the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement to detain more than 100 immigrants in an underground nightclub, according to Jonathan Pullen, the special agent in charge of the DEA Rocky Mountain Division.
“What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence,” Pullen said in a press conference.
In a statement, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said the detained immigrants have not been charged with any crimes, despite ICE’s claims.
Raquel Lane Arellano works with the coalition and said the news did not come as a surprise.
“We’re not surprised, although it’s really shocking and heartbreaking,” she said. “This administration has been coming after community members, taking neighbors out of their homes and parents out of their families.”
In a post on X, DEA said more than “200 people were inside - at least 114 in the U.S. illegally. In addition, more than a dozen active duty military were patrons or security guards.” In a separate post, Attorney General Pam Bondi added that the nightclub was “frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized.” TdA and MS-13 are Venezuelan gangs claimed by ICE to have ties to the detained immigrants.
President Donald J. Trump praised the raid on Truth Social, saying, “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.”
Arellano said her Colorado community is living on edge in light of the recent raids.
“We’ve seen a chilling effect on people’s comfort level doing routine things like going to school or a doctor’s appointment because this administration has threatened the sanctity of schools, hospitals and churches,” she said.
USC junior and mechanical engineering student Neysi Chegue is the incoming president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and said she is proud to be from Colorado, but is disappointed in the recent raids.
“Everyone just always thinks ‘It wouldn’t happen to me,’ but now seeing it so close to home, I definitely can sense how people are a little bit more alert,” Chegue said. “They’re scared to go to their job and not come back home.”
At the same time, in Florida, nearly 800 immigrants were arrested during a series of raids over the past four days. These Florida raids are a part of the newly named Operation Tidal Wave, partnering federal agencies with local law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants, according to a post on X by ICE. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said this is “a preview of what is to come around the country: large-scale operations that employ our state and local law enforcement partners to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis boasted about the raids on X, saying, “Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations.”
These raids come after more than 200 law enforcement agencies across Florida agreed to coordinate with ICE to execute these raids, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. It also comes after public universities in Florida entered similar agreements, allowing campus police to work with ICE.
Joey, a Miami resident and sophomore at Florida International University who requested anonymity out of fear for his and his parents’ safety, said he is disappointed in the federal government’s actions.
“Wrongfully deporting people and conducting random raids…I don’t think that’s right at all,” Joey said. “It’s sad to see innocent people separated from their families. I’m very anxious and very angry with my government. I don’t want them treating my parents like that.”
It is unclear what comes next for those detained in Colorado and Florida and what charges, if any, will be filed. Similar raids have taken place across Southern California, including last week, where a dozen day laborers were detained outside a Home Depot in Pomona.