The following report is. about a restaurant chain operating in Alabama and Arizona.
From Breitbart: The owners and operators of Foley, Alabama’s Colt Grill BBQ & Spirits have been hit with charges of systematically hiring illegal migrants as workers.
Federal officials raided the chain’s Foley location on July 15 as part of a larger sweep across six counties in the Yellowhammer State, the Press-Register reported at AL.com.
Headquartered in Arizona, Colt Grill’s other four locations in Arizona — Sedona, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Cottonwood — were also raided at the same time.
The owners, Brenda and Robert Clouston, were charged with five immigration and employment offenses and prosecutors said they had a pattern of knowingly hiring undocumented workers for their restaurants.
According to a press release posted on the Justice Department website, “This case is 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.”
The press release reads:
Yesterday, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and other law enforcement agencies executed federal search warrants at five Colt Grill restaurants and 12 residences in two states after a three-year labor exploitation investigation and a five-count federal indictment against four individuals in Arizona.
On May 27, 2025, a grand jury in Phoenix returned an indictment against Robert and Brenda Clouston, both 61, of northern Arizona, and Luis Pedro Rogel-Jaimes, age 33, and Iris Romero-Molina, age 29, both Mexican nationals illegally present in the United States and residing in Cottonwood, Arizona, for Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens, Conspiracy to Harbor Illegal Aliens, Conspiracy to Encourage and Induce an Alien to Unlawfully Enter the United States, and Pattern and Practice of Knowingly Employing Unauthorized Aliens.
The indictment alleges that Robert and Brenda Clouston operated four Colt Grill restaurants in the northern Arizona cities of Cottonwood, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Sedona, and one Colt Grill in Foley, Alabama. In September of 2022, the Cloustons, along with Rogel-Jaimes and Romero-Molina, made a plan that Romero-Molina would create a cleaning company, R&R AZ Cleaning, that would operate as a staffing company for the Colt Grill restaurants.
Rogel-Jaimes and Romero-Molina would then find undocumented workers to work at the restaurants, paying them through R&R AZ Cleaning with funds from Colt Grill. The undocumented workers were paid below minimum wage and were not compensated for overtime. The Cloustons, Rogel-Jaimes, and Romero-Molina benefited financially from the plan and did not pay proper employment taxes for the workers.
All four indicted individuals were arrested on July 15 without incident. While executing the warrants, law enforcement also arrested several undocumented illegal aliens for criminal or administrative immigration violations.
“A West Phoenix taco shop owner is in federal custody tonight, accused of knowingly hiring a dozen illegal immigrants at his business.”
“The owner of the shop is accused of smuggling and hiring people who are not American citizens.” pic.twitter.com/glzY5BBKSu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 15, 2025
More than 20 arrests were made on Tuesday at multiple Arizona restaurants in connection to a money laundering, labor exploitation and human smuggling investigation. https://t.co/wKnqzDiK3B
— FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) July 16, 2025
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