ICE arrests 121 at Memphis nightclub targeted in illegal gambling probe
State search warrants authorised a hunt for gambling machines and proceeds at El Corralón. Investigators say they seized evidence of illegal gambling, but no gambling charges have been announced.
US.- US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 121 people at a Memphis nightclub during a multiagency operation in which the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants tied to alleged illegal gambling and drugs. However, the Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis, Lucas Cameron-Vaughn of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has questioned whether illegal gambling was used as a pretext for an immigration raid.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE New Orleans conducted Operation Corral Light took place at El Corralón in the city’s Berclair neighbourhood in the early hours of August 30. Shelby County Judge Carolyn Addison had approved a TBI search warrant authorising special agent Britany Feffer to search the club for evidence of illegal gambling, including gambling machines. A second warrant covered suspected controlled substances.
The TBI later said its agents seized narcotics and “evidence of illegal gambling” from the nightclub. However, the bureau declined to give further details, citing an ongoing investigation and authorities have not announced any gambling-related charges.
Witnesses told The New York Times that some agents went directly to gambling machines along a wall of the club while others gathered patrons. The Tennessee Highway Patrol assisted by blocking traffic around the venue, according to the Nashville Banner.
Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said search warrants targeting gambling and drugs did not, in his view, give ICE legal authority to detain and question everyone inside about their immigration status.
