US arrests more than 100 migrants in nightclub raid

COLORADO, United States

United States authorities said Sunday they arrested more than 100 undocumented migrants at a raid on a nightclub in Colorado, the latest detentions in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) "apprehended over 100 illegal aliens at an underground night club frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists," Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X.

Trump has designated South American gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as terrorist groups, sent troops to the Mexican border and called for mass expulsions of undocumented migrants as part of his iron fist approach to immigration.

The Republican leader has in the process butted heads with federal judges, rights groups and Democrats who say he has trampled or ignored constitutional rights in rushing to deport migrants, sometimes without the right to a hearing.

Footage posted on X by the DEA showed armed officers breaking a window and shouting at clubgoers to raise their hands as they run out of the building onto what appears to be a strip mall parking lot.

The DEA said that "more than 100 illegal aliens" were taken into custody at the "underground nightclub" in Colorado Springs.

"Drugs and weapons have also been seized," the agency posted on X.

DEA Special Agent Jonathan Pullen told local TV stations that the raid uncovered various US military members at the club, "either as patrons or working as armed security."

Trump on Sunday praised the operation on his Truth Social platform for targeting "some of the worst people illegally in our Country — Drug Dealers, Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes."

He hit out at judges who have blocked migrant deportations, saying they would make the United States a "Crime ridden MESS."

Rights groups said last week that authorities had deported three American children -- one of whom has a rare form of cancer -- alongside their undocumented immigrant mothers.

One of the most high-profile deportations was of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent back to El Salvador despite his protected legal status.

The Trump administration admitted that Abrego Garcia was deported due to an "administrative error," and the Supreme Court ruled that the government must facilitate his return to the United States.

But Trump has since doubled down, insisting Abrego Garcia is in fact a gang member.