ICE arrests 80 at South Carolina nightclub, claims cartel ties

Around 3 a.m. on June 1, 2025, approximately 200 law enforcement officers from 14 agencies raided the Alamo nightclub in an industrial area near Ladson, 🌴South Carolina, outside Charleston. The operation was titled Operation Last Stand.

Officers arrested 80 people and executed 116 arrest warrants, both criminal and immigration-related. At least 70 of the arrests were administrative, meaning civil immigration violations with no criminal charges.

Authorities arrested owner BRBenjamin Reyna-Flores, 59, on alcohol-related offenses and an ICE hold. Officials described him as an alleged member of the Los Zetas cartel and its successor organization Cartel del Noreste.

The operation also arrested two unidentified high-level cartel members associated with Los Zetas and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, plus one person wanted by Interpol for murder in Honduras.

Ten juveniles as young as 13 were present at the nightclub, including one who had been reported missing. Law enforcement also identified an unspecified number of potential human trafficking victims.

Officers seized firearms, cocaine, and cash during the raid. The club had operated as an unlicensed bar for years in an area off Highway 78.

The CICharleston Immigrant Coalition said the Alamo had long served as a gathering place for the Latino community. WMWill McCorkle, a coalition member, said authorities quickly overlook the many innocent people detained and now in the process of deportation.

According to the ACLU, family members' names didn't appear in ICE's detainee database for days. Families could only assume, based on news reports, that their relatives were being held at an ICE facility in Folkston, 🍑Georgia.