Homeland Security confirms 121 immigrant arrests in Memphis nightclub raid

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 121 immigrants during a raid on the El Corralón nightclub in Memphis during the early hours of Sunday morning, according to a news release Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security. 

The release confirmed weekend reports of a large-scale raid by Memphis grassroots organization Vecindarios 901, whose volunteers photographed and videoed scores of nightclub-goers driven away in white vans from the club as onlookers shouted “shame on you” at law enforcement agents. The club is located in the city’s Berclair neighborhood, known for its high concentration of immigrant residents and immigrant-owned restaurants, grocery stores, bars and food trucks.

“The operation resulted in the arrests of illegal alien offenders with criminal histories that include larceny, drug possession, domestic violence, driving while intoxicated, assault, child endangerment, and prostitution,” the federal government’s news release said. 

The release included the mugshots of four men and one woman identified as “criminal illegal aliens” who were apprehended during the raid. The five individuals, collectively, had charges or convictions for larceny, drug possession, domestic violence, driving while intoxicated, assault, child endangerment and prostitution, according to the news release – all of the crimes listed in the government’s account of its arrests of 121 people at the nightclub.

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It is unknown whether the 116 other individuals detained had any criminal histories. 

The arrests come as the Trump administration has increased ICE operations nationwide during the summer months after a drop in arrests that coincided with a backlash over its sustained immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis that resulted in the shooting deaths of two individuals.

In July, ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide, a steep jump from February’s nearly 30,000 arrests, according to the Deportation Data Project, which compiles federal immigration data for public use that is obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation. The data shows that more than three-quarters of the ICE arrests were individuals who had no criminal record.

The weekend’s action in Memphis is among the largest immigration raids in recent Tennessee history. 

Earlier this year, between May 24 and May 31, the federal government reported 117 immigration arrests in Sevier County through a partnership between ICE and state and local law enforcement.

In May 2025, ICE, in partnership with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, made 196 arrests during a weekend-long enforcement sweep in a predominantly immigrant south Nashville neighborhood.