Thirty-six Chinese and Taiwanese nationals suspected of being in the United States illegally were in federal custody following a raid at an underground Southland nightclub.
According to a post on X by Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles, the raid occurred early Friday morning at an undisclosed location and included personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force.
The financial task force is a multi-agency initiative of federal and state investigators focused on financial crimes in Southern California, according to the agency’s website. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the California Department of Justice and HIS Los Angeles are among the task force members.
An HSI Los Angeles video showed the arrestees being handcuffed and loaded into waiting white vans outside of the nightclub.
Immigration raids and arrests have been ramped up following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who vowed during his campaign to conduct mass deportations of people in the country illegally. In a statement issued earlier this week announcing changes in ICE leadership, the agency noted that it had “achieved its highest number of arrests in its history this week.”
On Monday, HSI Los Angeles announced that it had arrested 12 Mexican nationals outside of Long Beach suspected of entering the nation illegally aboard a small boat.