Multiple federal agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland security conducted raids at 14 locations in six Alabama Counties on Tuesday.
They were looking for Cesar Campos-Reyes, a 52-year-old Lee County resident federally indicted in April on charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors unsealed the indictment Tuesday ahead of the raids.
Campos-Reyes has since turned himself into authorities and prosecutors told media that they expect him to appear in federal court as early as Wednesday, although no hearing has yet been scheduled.
The indictment lists at least one of the restaurants raided as being operated by Campos-Reyes—the El Patron Mexican Grill of Prattville LLC. The indictment also associates Campos-Reyes with El Patron locations in Pace and Pensacola, as well as two restaurants—Mariachi’s Mexican Grill and El Rey de Todos Mexican Grill and Cantina—that do not specify locations.
El Jefe Mexican Cuisine in Auburn, formerly El Rey de Todos, was among the restaurants raided Tuesday.
“There has been some confusion that the individual is still in this business with us. We are NOT associated with the individual and have NOT been since 2023, which is now EL JEFE MEXICAN CUISINE and is running under new ownership,” the restaurant posted to Facebook Tuesday. “We are sincerely SORRY for all the collateral damage that has affected our hard working employees and their families.”
In Prattville, an employee told APR that officers wearing masks and vests aggressively entered the restaurant at approximately 11 a.m. with guns drawn and detained approximately nine employees inside with zip ties. The law enforcement officers said they had a search warrant, the employee told APR, but did not produce it to employees despite multiple arrests.
At least two people were arrested during the Prattville operation, although neither individual appeared to be an employee of the restaurant or related to the subject of the raid; instead, the individuals appear to have been arrested on allegations that they disrupted the operation.
Across the statewide operation, two unnamed people have been arrested on charges of harboring illegal immigrants with another charged in relation to drug trafficking. Federal officials announced in a press conference held in Auburn Tuesday afternoon that “distribution levels” of methamphetmaines and cocaine were found at a single location during the raid and that guns and more than $100,000 cash were also seized. They did not specify whether the guns and cash were found at the same location as the drugs. Four dozen people were detained by ICE during the operation.
Several of the other restaurants raided on Tuesday operated under the name of El Patron, including locations in Wetumpka, Slapout and Auburn, although it is unclear how or whether those locations are connected to Campos-Reyes.
“This is allegedly a transnational, organized entity that has committed this activity. This operation was not about any one offense, it was about dismantling a criminal ecosystem, one that profits off of the exploitation of people and the circumvention of our nation’s laws,” said Steven Schrank, HSI Special Agent in Charge. “Those crimes do not just hurt the individuals involved, but they harm communities. They undercut legitimate businesses, and they strain public resources. The hiring of individuals that are not authorized to work in the United States may seem like a labor issue to some, but let’s be clear, it’s a public safety issue. When employers knowingly hire illegal aliens, they create a magnet for exploitation, wage theft and unsafe conditions.”
While officials at the press conference emphasized that Tuesday’s raids were part of a multi-year investigation, a press release from prosecutors also points to newly formed task forces and operations initiated under the current presidency of Donald Trump.
Officials at the press conference often referenced the “Gulf of America Homeland Security Task Force.” Officials told ProPublica in June that the reorganization “has been driven primarily by President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser, Stephen Miller, who is closely overseeing the project’s implementation.
“Current and former officials said the proposed reorganization would make it easier for senior officials like Miller to disregard norms that have long walled off the White House from active criminal investigations,” wrote ProPublica journalist Tim Golden.
The release from federal prosecutors also touts the operation as “part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”
“Operation Take Back America” is an initiative established in March of this year.
Officials at the conference told reporters that search warrants remain sealed due to the ongoing investigation but said more details may become available in the coming days. At this time, no search warrants or court documents have been shared with the public pertaining to violent crime or transnational gangs or cartels.
