So in my sleepy little hometown of Cottonwood, the local BBQ place, Colt Grill, which had expanded to four locations here in central AZ, and one in Foley, Alabama was raided on Tuesday.

Long and short of it, they were trafficking illegals in and running hat has been described by a few people I know as a “slave labor operation”. The indictment seems to pretty much add up to that.

It’s pretty big news here in our small town. More of the details I didn’t copy and paste at the link, and the indictment is listed on the DOJ website as linked below.

Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Colt Grill locations in the Village of Oak Creek and Cottonwood on Tuesday, July 15.

At least five people were detained in the VOC and transported to Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office for HSI.

“Special agents with ICE Homeland Security Investigations and partner agencies are executing multiple criminal/federal arrest and search warrants in the northern Arizona,” Homeland Security Investigations Southwest Deputy Communications Chief Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe wrote in an email Tuesday morning. ” The investigation is ongoing; updates will be issued as they become available.”

“The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, with Homeland Security Investigations and multiple other federal agencies, are currently working in Yavapai County on a complex criminal investigation involving alleged criminal activity including money laundering and labor exploitation that is tied to all locations of the Colt Grill,” YCSO posted to Facebook. “Multiple local police departments in Yavapai County are assisting with scene security and ensuring public safety while these search warrants are being served.”

There was at least one special agent for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General’s Labor Racketeering and Fraud investigations department in the VOC and Internal Revenue Service agents.
“The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, with Homeland Security Investigations and multiple other federal agencies, are currently working in Yavapai County on a complex criminal investigation involving alleged criminal activity including money laundering and labor exploitation that is tied to all locations of the Colt Grill,” YCSO posted to Facebook. “Multiple local police departments in Yavapai County are assisting with scene security and ensuring public safety while these search warrants are being served.”

https://journalaz.com/2025/07/...l-in-cottonwood-voc/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-a...employment-practices

https://www.justice.gov/usao-a...ia/1408226/dl?inline

Came across this related to the Colt Grill raid:

https://x.com/Lapleopards/status/1945298862589272237

And here I am thinking I am "Hell on Wheels!" operating my mighty EGO String Trimmer! I have truly been humbled by my betters.....

I so want to go to the local day laborer site and from hiding scream "LA MIGRA!!¡CORRER!!!!"

“LA MIGRA” for a while was just a laughable statement that didn’t mean much of anything. But now, there are illegals that are jumping off structures to flee. How times have changed!

I'd imagine AZ is a hotbed of illegal trafficking people.


https://x.com/WallStreetApes/s.../1945294267737371001

Shocker… yet another restaurant busted hiring illegals under the table

Mexican place here yesterday. Oh the hand-wringing about attacking people just trying to go to work and do a job...

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Shocker… yet another restaurant busted hiring illegals under the table

The important thing is, they're not just hiring illegals but the litany of other felonies that they're doing. Besides hiring illegals, they're laundering money, employing/hiding known gang members and felons with outstanding warrants, being apart of human smuggling rings which may include children; this is just the tip of the iceberg of illicit activity that many of these raids are unveiling. Tom Holman and the rest of DHS has repeatedly pointed out that the initial raids are going to target centers of illegal activity to remove the most dangerous and at-risk situations off the street.

Yet, the Leftists continue to bray and scream that these are just hardworking people not bothering anybody and these raids are nothing but immoral govt activities; ohh, the irony..... While Noem and, Holman have been at the podium weekly, would like to have daily news conferences providing a continuous deluge of targets and reasons that these locations are being charged with. Like Schwarzkopf during Desert Storm, just an onslaught of information and all the reasons from across the country, bury the news with facts and information.

quote:

Originally posted by Lineman101:
“LA MIGRA” for a while was just a laughable statement that didn’t mean much of anything. But now, there are illegals that are jumping off structures to flee. How times have changed!

Few weeks ago we were working a stolen property case. The investigation led us to a Hispanic owned garage. Now the owners and occupants of the business had no idea that this stolen property was there. The thief didn’t want to get caught with it and dumped it there.

Three patrol cars pull up on their lot and they lock the doors during business hours. We are telling them to open the doors and they are standing on the other side of the glass pointing at their phones.

Calling immigration attorneys.

Eventually, el jefe pulled up and confirmed that our bad guy had dropped the property off.

That is the difference of today.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Mexican place here yesterday. Oh the hand-wringing about attacking people just trying to go to work and do a job...

The workers are one step up from slaver labor...which whiny liberals seem to ignore. they demanded statues be removed but love the cheap labor. Labor that is housed in substandard conditions (but they gladly cry about the food in the govt facilities).

A labor force that they can treat any way they want, pay substandard wages with no benefits because they are in no position to complain.

But "they do the jobs no one else will do !!". Because the govt pays too many to sit home on their ass.

Bury the owners of these businesses under the courthouse. Scorched earth.

Secure the border. Arrest and remove those here illegally. Arrest, jail, and fine those employing illegals.

quote:

Originally posted by berto:
Secure the border. Arrest and remove those here illegally. Arrest, jail, and fine those employing illegals.

They are never going to get to those here illegally. Just the bad guys. President Trump states 21 million came in under biden and we already had over 20 million here. They will remove 1 million per year for 4 years. The rest are going to remain here. Funny how it took just 4 years to allow 21 million in and it cost nothing yet, billions will be spent to legally remove just 4 million. Northern Kentucky is loaded with Latinos now. I don't even want to live here now. The biggest deportation in history is not going to happen.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
...The biggest deportation in history is not going to happen.

It may happen, but it will most-likely just be a drop in the bucket for the reasons you mentioned. I think it was the Texas AG who said a couple years ago that, by his estimate, the actual number of Illegal Aliens in the US is closer to 60 MILLION! My own estimate based on observation and personal experience was 50 million, so I'll bow to his expertise.

They all need to go. Whether it's voluntarily, by ICE's force, or feet-first means little to me, but so-far ICE's well-intentioned actions have yielded pathetically low numbers. They need help, encouragement and reinforcements.

I know this is so much more wide spread than we realize.

Went with my brother to our favorite buffet south of Atlanta. Everything seemed pretty normal but instead of people sitting spread out in the restaurant they had us all sitting in one section. My brother said where are all the waitresses, he was right they only had 3-4 whereas the usually have about 10 Asian waitresses and the kitchen staff is usually all Hispanic. Lots of customers but only about half the staff. Wonder what Happened

With less workers, increase productivity to compensate or pay higher wages. Hope this does not become inflationary.