Only 25 of the more than 140 people who were detained during a massive raid in San Antonio (Texas) on November 16 had criminal records.
This was detailed by the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a statement, which for the first time offered more details about the arrests, which took place in a street food stand lot where, according to the authorities, a clandestine party venue was also operating.
Most of those arrested in Texas raid have no criminal record
🚨🇺🇸Una raid on a nightclub in San Antonio, Texas, ended with more than 150 people arrested.
According to the FBI, much of those arrested are members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. pic.twitter.com/6U6yEdrsw3
– EstrellaTV News (@NEstrellaTv) November 18, 2025
The authorities did not give a list of the names of the detainees, but reported that the majority (98) are Venezuelan, 21 Hondurans, 14 Mexicans, four Cubans, two Ecuadorians, one Nicaraguan, one Peruvian, one Guatemalan and one Salvadoran.
The arrestees, in an operation that took place around 3 a.m. on Sunday the 16th, were transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Authorities also claim that 50 of the detained individuals are “confirmed” members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.
However, they did not provide further evidence to explain the relationship with the criminal group.
Only 25 of those arrested, according to the FBI, have “criminal records,” 13 for federal crimes and 12 for misdemeanors.
This raid in South Texas is the latest example of the Donald Trump administration’s efforts to arrest and detain as many migrants living in the country as possible.
Organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) have accused the government of committing abuses against the population, through indiscriminate arrests and “without respect for human rights” of migrants or people of Latino origin.
Such operations in other cities such as Chicago (Illinois), Charlotte (North Carolina) and Boston (Massachusetts) have seen people with no criminal record or legal status in the U.S. also arrested as a result of the expansion of federal forces.
A place for “clandestine parties”.
BREAKING: MASSIVE ICE RAID at a club in San Antonio, Texas, targeting Tren de Aragua gang members.
Over 140 illegal aliens were arrested, including gang members and illegals from multiple foreign countries.
This is exactly what I voted for! pic.twitter.com/IlyUoK0GbN
– War Correspondent (@warDaniel47) November 20, 2025
The raid has provoked criticism from Democratic legislators representing several districts in San Antonio in the national Congress, who have demanded that the government provide more information about the reason for the raid and the detainees.
Congressman Joaquin Castro this week made public the search warrant – issued by a Bexar County district judge – that gave the green light to the operation.
In the document, a special agent of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), details that his agency had been “investigating” for months the site where the raid took place, since they had information from a confidential witness that drugs were being sold in one of the premises and that clandestine parties were being held, frequented by “members of the Tren de Aragua”.
Using the confidential witness, DPS claims to have verified that an individual, identified as the manager of the establishment, was selling cocaine on the premises.
“Fear” in the community and lack of transparency
Castro, in a statement issued on Tuesday, November 25, criticized what he called “an unacceptable lack of transparency” on the part of the government regarding the operation.
Laura Flores-Dixit, an attorney with the NGO American Gateways, agreed with this reading and indicated that, instead of creating security, this type of massive raids generate fear in the Latino and immigrant community in the region.
His organization has been in contact with the families of at least five of those arrested, who have been sent to various migrant detention centers in Texas.
All of them, he said, are young people between 20 and 24 years of age.
The activist also raised alarms about the alleged links between some of the detainees and the Aragua Train, assuring that the government has a “pattern” of “unilaterally declaring membership in this criminal gang” without offering proof.
The Trump administration has been singled out by various human rights organizations for identifying and detaining Venezuelan migrants as members of the Aragua Train without evidence or criminal records, in what Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International call “arbitrary detentions.”
In two of the most controversial instances, Washington sent hundreds of these migrants to a maximum security detention center in El Salvador and to the Guantanamo naval base earlier this year.
Most of them, according to analysis by the media and organizations, did not have a criminal record or links to the gang, but were singled out for their tattoos.
Filed under: Arrested in Texas raid with no criminal records
With information from EFE
