Charleston immigrant community decries police, ICE raid of SC nightclub
Alejandra De La Vega, pictured on Friday, June 6, 2025, outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston. De La Vega was among those present but not arrested during a June 1 law enforcement raid of Alamo nightclub in Charleston County. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
NORTH CHARLESTON — After law enforcement arrested 80 people during a weekend sting operation at a nightclub in Charleston County, federal immigration officials claimed 'the community at large knew that there was nothing good going on at that establishment.'
But for some people present during the 3 a.m. June 1 raid at the Alamo, that simply was not the case. For Alejandra De La Vega, the venue located just outside the town of Summerville, right along the Charleston and Dorchester county line, was a place to dance with friends.
'I went to Alamo to enjoy the night, just like many others,' she told reporters Friday. 'But instead of fun, it turned into fear and humiliation.'
De La Vega had just stepped out of the restroom when she said police stormed in, guns drawn. Patrons were running and screaming, she said, as more officers streamed in and ordered people to the ground.
'It was chaos,' she said at the news conference outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston.
County, state and federal law enforcement held and questioned the more than 200 people present at the club during the raid, dubbed 'Operation Last Stand,' for two hours, De La Vega said.
The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division began investigating Alamo in November 2024 after receiving a tip about potential human trafficking at the venue, agency spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich told the SC Daily Gazette Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security also got involved in the investigation at that time, she said.
Later Friday, SLED announced criminal charges against two people, the club's 59-year-old owner, Benjamin Reyna-Flores of Hanahan, and a 44-year-old security guard at the club, Terone Lavince Lawson of North Charleston.
Reyna-Flores faces multiple charges related to unlawful sale of alcohol. The club had no alcohol license.
Lawson faces illegal gun and drug possession charges. According to warrants from SLED, Lawson had 2 grams of meth, an eight ball of cocaine, and less than a gram of psychedelic mushrooms in his van. Police also found a pair of handguns in the van, which Lawson cannot legally possess due to past convictions for burglary in 2008 and assault in 2003.
Those arrested include two unidentified 'high-level cartel members' associated with the Mexico-based Los Zetas cartel and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang and one person wanted by Interpol for murder in Honduras, said U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent Cardell Morant.
Ten juveniles as young as 13 — including one reported as missing — as well as an unidentified number of potential human trafficking victims were at the club at the time of the raid. Law enforcement also reported seizing guns, cocaine and cash.
In her retelling of events, De La Vega said police separated anyone with visible tattoos and photographed them.
De La Vega, a transgender Latina woman who has lived in the United States since 2001, said officers questioned the validity of her state-issued I.D. card, as well as that of the transgender woman she was there with.
De La Vega has legal residency status in the U.S. She was not arrested.
But 80% of those arrested Sunday did not have legal status to be in the country. The vast majority were arrested on civil immigration charges, not criminal violations.
Five people were arrested for criminal offenses, Morant said.
Homeland Security confirmed to The Post & Courier that Sergio Joel Galo-Baca is the Honduran man wanted for international homicide. Beyond SLED's announcement Friday, no other names or list of charges have been released.
Homeland Security officials have not responded to emails sent by the SC Daily Gazette.
'The narrative that's been put out by the sheriff, by the governor, by the attorney general, is that they are just trying to stop violent criminals, stop trafficking,' said Will McCorkle, a member of the Charleston Immigrant Coalition. 'But what they quickly overlook are the many innocent people that were detained and are now in the process of deportation for no real purpose.'
Now, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, several families do not know where their family members are.
They have searched their names online using Immigration and Customs Enforcement's database that people can use to locate the state and center where detainees are being held. But their family members' names have not shown up in the search, said Dulce Lopez, immigrant rights advocacy strategist for the ACLU.
They can only assume, based on news reports, that their family members are at an ICE holding facility in Folkston, Georgia.
'That made me realize, how easily everything can be taken away,' De La Vega said. 'I keep thinking, what if I didn't have a legal status? What if I were detained and ripped away from my family?'
'My mom is my hero,' De La Vega continued. 'She came to this country and gave me and my siblings a better life. She raised us with love and sacrifice and with so much strength. We're really close, and I don't know what I would do if I was taken from her. No one should have lived with that fear.'
Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie, during a news conference Monday, cited noise complaints at the club and reports of assaults in the parking lot.
Outside of Sunday's raid, the sheriff's department responded to the club 13 other times since 2020 for calls including 'suspicious circumstances,' vandalism and one armed robbery, according to a call log provided by the department.
Area business owners said their biggest issue in the last several months had been club goers parking on the side of the highway and in their parking lots after the club's lot filled up, leaving behind excessive trash and beer bottles after nearly every weekend.
The nightclub did not have a license to sell alcohol.
A group of faith and immigrant community leaders stressed that they do not condone criminal activity.
'But no one deserves to be treated as guilty by association,' said Lopez, of the ACLU.
People have reason to be afraid, McCorckle said, citing the recent case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Living in Maryland, Garcia had been protected from deportation by a 2019 judge's ruling that he likely faced gang persecution in his home country.
The Trump administration has insisted Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, which Garcia denied. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Garcia was back in U.S. custody to face criminal charges in Tennessee related to human smuggling.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Guatemalan man deported to Mexico flown back to US after judge's orders
A Guatemalan man who said he was deported to Mexico despite fearing he would be persecuted there was flown back to the US on Wednesday after a judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return, his lawyer said. Brian Murphy, a US district judge in Boston, Massachusetts, had ordered the man's return after the US Department of Justice notified him that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information. In a court order last month, Murphy found that the deportation of the man, identified in legal filings only as OCG, likely 'lacked any semblance of due process'. A lawyer for OCG, Trina Realmuto, told the Guardian on Wednesday evening shortly after the man landed in Los Angeles: 'We can confirm that OCG landed in the US a few hours ago. He made contact with the legal team while waiting in line to go through immigration. We expect that he will be detained, but we don't know where yet. If DHS again seeks to deport him to a third country, the judge's order requires that he be given due process, including notice and the opportunity to present a fear-based claim.' In a court order last month, Murphy found that the deportation of the man, identified in legal filings only as OCG, likely 'lacked any semblance of due process'. 'No one has ever suggested that OCG poses any sort of security threat,' Murphy wrote, adding: 'In general, this case presents no special facts or legal circumstances, only the banal horror of a man being wrongfully loaded onto a bus and sent back to a country where he was allegedly just raped and kidnapped.' Related: US immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants Murphy went on to say: 'At oral argument, defendants' counsel confirmed that it is 'the policy of the United States not to expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture' … The return of OCG poses a vanishingly small cost to make sure we can still claim to live up to that ideal.' According to a court declaration, OCG, who had returned to Guatemala following his deportation to Mexico two months ago, said: 'I have been living in hiding, in constant panic and constant fear.' OCG, who is gay, had applied for asylum in the US last year after he was attacked multiple times in homophobic acts of violence in Guatemala. 'I don't stay in any of the places I used to stay because the story is the same as ever here: gay people like me are targeted simply for who we are. This produces constant fear and panic,' OCG said in his court declaration from Guatemala, adding: 'Living a normal life is impossible here, and I live in fear because of the past hateful incidences I experienced … There is no justice for me here.' Following Murphy's court order, Donald Trump's administration said in a court filing on 28 May that federal immigration officials were working 'to bring OCG back to the United States on an air charter operations flight return leg'. Last month, Trump officials admitted to an 'error' of falsely claiming that OCG was not afraid of being returned to Mexico. 'Upon further investigation, defendants cannot identify any officer who asked O.C.G. whether he had a fear of return to Mexico. Nor can defendants identify the officer who O.C.G. states 'told [him] that he was being deported to Mexico',' government lawyers said in a court filing. The Guardian has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment. Meanwhile, another federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration must give more than 100 migrants sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador a chance to challenge their deportations. US district chief judge James Boasberg, in Washington DC, said people who were sent to the prison in March under an 18th-century wartime law haven't been able to formally contest the removals or allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He ordered the administration to work toward giving them a way to file those challenges. The judge wrote that 'significant evidence' has surfaced indicating that many of the migrants imprisoned in El Salvador are not connected to the gang 'and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations'. Boasberg gave the administration one week to come up with a manner in which the 'at least 137' people can make those claims, even while they're formally in the custody of El Salvador, in the latest milestone in the months-long legal saga. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Video of man carrying suspicious bundle after his employee's death fuels femicide outrage in Mexico
Mexican prosecutors are investigating a widely shared surveillance video of the former boss of murdered woman carrying a suspicious bundle up a flight of stairs. Lorena Jacqueline Morales, who lived in the city of León in the central state of Guanajuato and worked at a food store, was reported missing by her family on May 23, according to authorities. The 28-year-old's body was found on Tuesday, June 3, inside a suitcase, according to prosecutors. Her murder has shocked the country and has underscored violence against women in Mexico. Prosecutors arrested the alleged perpetrator, her former boss, that same day. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Guanajuato Prosecutor's Office told CNN that a viral video was part of the investigation into Morales' murder. They did not provide further details. The surveillance video showed Morales' former boss going into an apartment building and climbing a flight of stairs with a covered-up object. Later, the man is seen next to a car struggling to load a heavy suitcase into the trunk. The timestamp in the upper left corner of the video suggests it was filmed on May 22. It's unclear what happened before and after the footage was recorded. CNN is working to determine the suspect's legal status and his response to the allegations against him. Guanajuato Gov. Libia Dennise García Muñoz said the case should be investigated as a femicide. Mexico has long struggled with high levels of both homicide and violence against women. While not all homicides involving women are femicides, many are. In 2020, a quarter of female killings in Mexico were investigated as femicides, with cases reported in each one of Mexico's 32 states, according to Amnesty International. Last year, there were 847 reported cases of femicide nationwide – and 162 in the first three months of this year, according to Mexican government figures.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mass. man who supplied gang with ‘particularly dangerous' drugs began drinking, smoking at 13
At just 13, a Massachusetts boy turned to alcohol and marijuana. By 15, he was hooked on heroin. Now, three decades later, the scars of that addiction run deep — and at 39, he's been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a Massachusetts-based drug ring. Brian Gingras, also known as 'Cheech,' was sentenced June 4 to nine years in prison. Gringas pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine. Gingras' 'first encounter with the criminal justice system was in 2003, when he was 17 years old. The next 20 years of Defendant's life would be an uninterrupted parade of arrests and criminal court cases,' court documents state. 'Most of these cases did not result in convictions, but the records illustrate in stark relief Defendant's unwillingness or inability to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.' Read more: How one machine supercharged illicit drug manufacturing in Mass. In 2019, Gingras' parents bought him a home. Three years later, investigators searched that home 'finding substantial evidence of Defendant's crimes.' Investigators also said the 'unkempt home' was 'in disarray.' 'Drugs were found in nearly every room of the house, some of which were clearly being used,' court documents state. 'Defendant himself appeared to be in distress, and he was removed from the scene in an ambulance.' Thousands of 'particularly dangerous imitations' of Adderall pills that were supplied by a Massachusetts gang looked like the real pills but were filled with a compound of methamphetamine and caffeine. The pills had become increasingly popular and prevalent in Lowell. They were similar in shape, size, and appearance to genuine Adderall but were typically pressed with methamphetamine by local drug traffickers using pill presses, court documents state. Gingras was the source of the pills and other drugs, such as cocaine and counterfeit 'Xanax bars,' to the Asian Boyz gang, according to court documents. He was distributing wholesale quantities of cocaine and various illicit pills. He had all the equipment necessary to produce the pills himself, including an industrial pill press, which is legal in the U.S. The machines are largely unregulated and available for purchase online. In the garage, officials found a broken pill press covered in drug residue. Historically, pill presses were used in the pharmaceutical profession and by people who make their own dietary supplements, such as bodybuilders or naturopaths. Read more: A Mass. man bought an illegal depressant online and took his life. The seller will go to prison Gingras also maintained a large quantity of the drugs at a commercial storage facility, court documents state. Inside the storage unit, officials found 250 grams of methamphetamine pills, over 1 kilogram of etizolam pills, bags of suspected marijuana, boxes of THC extract and edible products and over 30 kilograms of caffeine pills that looked identical to the counterfeit 'Adderall' pills made with methamphetamine. Bill Phim, also known as 'Bonez,' of the Asian Boyz gang, told an undercover officer that he coordinated the supply of methamphetamine pills with other Asian Boyz gang members and associates, including Gingras. Between May 2022 and September 2022, officials said Gingras met with Phim prior to planned deals to personally deliver pills. In total, Gingras supplied Phim with about 5,200 pills during this time period, consisting of over 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) of methamphetamine, court documents read. Gingras sold the pills for about $1 per pill. 'Phim, in turn, re-sold the pills to the undercover officer for a significant profit, at the price of $3.50 per pill,' court documents read. Phim, 37, of Lowell, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He will then be on five years of supervised release. Read more: Will Mass. lawmakers take action on illicit drug-making machines? Public comment sought. Between February 2022 and April 2022, Erickson Dao, also known as 'Silent,' 32, of Lowell, delivered the counterfeit pills to Phim at least five times. Phim then sold the pills to an undercover federal agent for more than $11,000. On 12 different dates in 2022, Phim sold these counterfeit 'Adderall' pills to an undercover agent. In total, Phim sold the undercover agent over 10,000 pills for more than $36,000. Chemical testing confirmed that the pills were a dangerous compound of methamphetamine and caffeine. When investigators searched Dao's residence, they discovered thousands more counterfeit 'Adderall' pills and large quantities of cocaine. Gingras was seen making 'brief visits' to the back door of Dao's house, 'where Dao routinely engaged in drug transactions,' court documents state. Dao was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He will then be on four years of supervised release. Read more: We bought a machine that makes fentanyl pills. It wasn't hard Gingras said he was not part of the Asian Boyz gang. However, court documents state he was highly associated with them, including knowing one of the leaders. After the seizure of the drugs, investigators suspected that they had completely disrupted Gingras drug operation. Over Facebook Messenger, another suspected Asian Boyz gang member Samnang Son, or 'Smiley,' told Gingras that he was 'poor.' Gingras responded, 'Me too. I went from balling to crawling.' 'Defendant's response was revealing, capturing his state of mind in the immediate aftermath of the demise of his own illicit drug operation,' court documents read. When officials went to arrest Gingras the next day, they found him at a location in Lowell that is 'frequented by drug addicts and known as a place to obtain and use illicit drugs.' Read more: Hidden in plain sight: Where pill presses have been uncovered in Mass. Court documents state his addiction and mental health issues were considered when deciding his sentence. However, court documents state, 'this case suggests that Defendant even embraced a life of crime.' Officials hopes the nine years in prison gives Gingras 'significant opportunity to participate in the programming available,' including Bureau of Prison's Residential Drug Abuse Program. Netflix movie with well-known comedians needs paid background actors How pink heart shaped fentanyl led to Mass. father's 18-year prison sentence Botulism cases linked to Botox injections under investigation in Massachusetts ICE deportation blocked by Boston judge: Migrants now in shipping container in Djibouti Mass. State Lottery winner: Father will take children to Disney with $100K prize Read the original article on MassLive.
