June 9, 2025 • 10 mins
SC AG Alan Wilson Discusses Ladson Raid & Fed Judge Over-Reach
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Charleston's Morning News with Kelly and Blaze.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And joining us live welcome back South Carolina is Attorney
General Alan Wilson. I want to get into operation last
stand here at the Alamo Nightclub in Ladsen, the big
ice sting over the weekend here in the Low Country.
But I can't not ask you, with your close relationships
with Trump and his administration, your reaction to this Trump
Elon Teff.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, first off, I am incredibly supportive of the President
and Elon Musk, who things can be true at once. First,
I agree with the President that we have to maintain
the tax cuts that he implemented in this first term,
and he's dealing with a very time majority in the
House and Senate. But I'm also a big fan of
Elon Muskus cuts. Obviously, we can't continue to grow the
budget eficit rather and our national debt is growing at
(00:51):
an astronomical amount. This is one of those things where
you agree with two points of view, and I'm empathetic
to both why both men are upset. Of course, I
haven't really studied the issue that well, but at the
end of the day, something has to give way. The
President can't while he won the election with an overwhelming
majority in the electoral College. The House and Senate are not.
(01:13):
It's a three vote swing in the House and it's
a two vote swing or three vote swing in the Senate.
So again, we don't have a mandate to govern with,
and so it's very difficult to maintain the cuts that
Elon was advocating for. But at the same time, we
need to continue to keep trying to cut that deficit back.
So this is a very tough one. But you have
two you have two men who are multi billionaires, who
(01:36):
are very powerful and have these egos, and you're seeing
them kind of clash right now, and it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, it's interesting, to say the least, so and entertaining too.
Let's shift gears and talk about Operation Last Stand. That
was the raid on the Alamo nightclub in Ladson last weekend. Obviously,
there was a lot of planning that went into that.
You know, how were how was law enforcement tip off
that there were so many I think there was one
(02:02):
hundred and sixteen warrants issued and they executed eighty of them.
How did all of this come to light and come
to fruition?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So, first off, I want to give a quick shout
out to the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Carl Richie,
who ran on the platform that he was going to
crack down this stuff, and he's keeping his word. Sheriff
Richie's doing a fantastic job. This is the third such
law enforcement operation that I have been associated with or
invited to attend in the last four months since he's
(02:31):
been sheriff. Obviously a state law enforcement division of the
FBI dea ice, I mean, this is a hodgepodge of
state and federal agencies. They're the lead. There's an ongoing
investigation associated with this, so I don't want to give
out too much as to how they were tipped off
for how this thing came to light, because I could
compromise the investigation. But I do want to tie this
(02:54):
back to a national issue. I was at the southern
border two weeks ago at the UMISSEC and I met
with border patrol officials. They told me to give us comparison.
In May of twenty twenty three, in the height of
the Biden administration, there were an average of one thy
five hundred illegal crossings per day at that section of
(03:15):
the border, and May of twenty five. This past month,
there were an average of four illegal crossings per day
from fifteen hundred to four. We have effectively, through the
President Trump's policies, have shut down the illegal migration of
the southern border. Unfortunately, like holes in a boat, you
can plug the holes in the boat, but you still
have the water that leaked in. This sting operation is
(03:38):
a byproduct of the Biden administration's failed policies at the border,
because you allowed all of these people into the interior
of the United States. Every drug trafficking case that we
prosecute in a state grand jury is associated with Mexican
drug cartel, in local gangs like MS thirteen Trendy Iragua.
So we are now bailing out the water and supporting
(03:59):
a lot law enforcement like what happened here as prosecutors,
and we're going to continue to put these people under
the prison and get them out of our country.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You're just shorting us. Live of South Carolina's US Attorney General,
Alan Wilson, we're digging into Operation Last Stand, the Low
Country Ice raid. Over the weekend. You mentioned Sheriff Carl
Ritchie in that pat on the back. Absolutely he said,
I'm doing exactly what I was elected to do. And
to your point, Trump ran on that very same platform.
It's why he had an overwhelming win in my opinion
(04:30):
back in November. It was about the economy and it
was about securing our border. So one of the huge
headlines this week. And I thank god from a local
perspective that all involved in this rate over the weekend
and lads and Attorney General Wilson that it didn't turn
violent or deadly. But that is not the case for
ICE rays across America. We just played a Handity Morning
(04:51):
Minute here at the top of the hour, and he
addressed the dangers these ICE agents are being docked. You
know now they're being forced to kind of mask their
fai because of the protest against them and their families.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
No, it's horrible, it's disgusting, and it should not be tolerated.
You know that the left is coming at the men
and women in blue who are standing between us and
total anarchy here. I mean, there are people here who now,
there are people who come to America to seek a
better way of life. And I applaud that. I do
not applaud them violating federal law to get here, but
I applaud their reasons, but there are people who are
(05:24):
coming here. They might be part of a Mexican drug cartel,
they might be part of some South American gang, they
might be associated with some terrorist proxy group. This is
not just a public safety issue. This is a national
security issue. And the men and women in law enforcement
are risking their lives. I'm talking to them every day.
I'm involved in multiple investigations right now. Hey, listen, Kelly,
(05:44):
think about this. One of the people that was arrested
had a murder warrant issued by inter Pole. We had
people who were allegedly trafficking kids. We had trafficking human
trafficking victims. Miners were liberated from this bust. I mean,
d bugs, cash, elicit, the narcotics. I mean, this is
what this law enforcement sting operation yielded for the people
(06:07):
of this community. And you know, Scarlett Wilson, your solicitor,
is going to get this case and prosecute it. We're
going to stand ready to support her in state court.
We're going to support the US Attorney in federal court,
and we're going to continue to work with low local
law enforcement to go after these dug cartels. And I'm
going to put these people and I only want to
call them people. We're going to put these thugs under
the prison.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah, it's very concerning that's going on right here in
our own community.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Scarlett Wilson, she's going to be basically adjudicating this in
a court of law. You think she's going to see
judicial push back like we've seen across the country with
the Trump administration.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, you know, Scarlett's going to be prosecuting. She and
her team will be prosecuting these cases in state court
where there's better and more close judicial oversight by the
state legislature. I don't anticipate in criminal courts here in
South Carolina that she'll get a lot of pushback. I'll
defer to her to answer that question. I will say
this that when the Solicitor's Office gets these cases, are
office will be standing by to support them in any
(07:02):
way that we possibly can. Obviously, federal courts are a
different story, especially in different regions of the country, and
I've been involved, Kelly, as you know, in a number
of cases where judicial activism was at play, where they
tried to stop the president from implementing his agenda that
he was elected to do. One such was when he
tried to remove the two hundred plus trendy Iragua gang
(07:23):
members in a single circuit judge or a district court
judge blocking. I led a twenty six state effort to
overturn that. We had some success there. So we're going
to continue to defend the president. We're going to continue
to take this fight to the courts and federal district
courts all over the country, but here at home in
South Carolina. This is a reason why I'm advocating for
judicial reform so that we can have more executive branch
(07:44):
oversight over the judiciary.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, and I was going to ask you about that,
Attorney General, So you know, is this a part of
a natural way that the system works? Are these judges
abusing their positions? I mean, of course, they're a part
of the checks and balances, a part of the coequal
branches of government. And even though we don't like the
decisions that they make and the actions they take with
(08:08):
these injunctions, is that not how the system is designed
to work.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, I always tell people we have the worst criminal
justice system, or we have the worst judicial system in
the world except for every other kind. That's a rip
off of Winston Churchill's term on democracy. But the point
is is that you want to have judicial independence, but
you also want to balance that against judicial accountability. There
are judges out there. You want judges to not feel
(08:35):
political pressures because there's a lot of legal cases that
are very difficult and they're controversial, and you want the
judge to not feel political pressure from either side. You
want them to come to the right conclusion without feeling
like they're going to be thrown out if someone disagrees
with them. At the same time, you don't want judges
to hide behind that iron curtain where they can just
wield their own personal views as opposed to the rule
(08:57):
of law. And so there's a balance there. But that
all goes back to how we select judges and how
we hold them accountable once they're in office, and there
needs to be safeguards there, which is why I spent
the last ten years advocating for how we elect judges
in South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So, Attorney Ja Rolin Wilson, we're we're up with this.
You mentioned before the break people here illegally who you
know for years, potentially contributing to our society. What is
your message, especially when people are showing up to court
dates and are being detained for those who are not
trend to a ragua or MS thirteen.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well, look, I mean, first off, follow the law. You
can't go wrong following the law. I mean when you're
told to report. You know, Ronald Reagan tried to do
an amnesty back in nineteen eighty seven, and that was
supposed to cure the immigration crisis of that time, and
it didn't. I mean, we did exactly that in eighty seven,
and here it is nearly forty years later, and we're
dealing with the same issues. Nationally. There are people who
(09:51):
are good people who wanted to if they came to
this country to seek a better life, but they got
here illegally. My message to them would be follow the law.
We should create incentives to encourage people to do the
right thing. We've for the last four years of the
Biden administration, we've incentivized people to break the law, listen,
centivized them to follow the law, and then listen force it.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
That sounds like good advice. South Carolina Attorney General Ellen Wilson,
thank you for your time this morning, sir.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Thank you, Thank you both.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Thanks for listening to the Charleston Morning News podcast. Catch
Kelly and Blaze weekday mornings from six to nine
This is Charleston's Morning News with Kelly and Blaze.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And joining us live welcome back South Carolina is Attorney
General Alan Wilson. I want to get into operation last
stand here at the Alamo Nightclub in Ladsen, the big
ice sting over the weekend here in the Low Country.
But I can't not ask you, with your close relationships
with Trump and his administration, your reaction to this Trump
Elon Teff.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, first off, I am incredibly supportive of the President
and Elon Musk, who things can be true at once. First,
I agree with the President that we have to maintain
the tax cuts that he implemented in this first term,
and he's dealing with a very time majority in the
House and Senate. But I'm also a big fan of
Elon Muskus cuts. Obviously, we can't continue to grow the
budget eficit rather and our national debt is growing at
(00:51):
an astronomical amount. This is one of those things where
you agree with two points of view, and I'm empathetic
to both why both men are upset. Of course, I
haven't really studied the issue that well, but at the
end of the day, something has to give way. The
President can't while he won the election with an overwhelming
majority in the electoral College. The House and Senate are not.
(01:13):
It's a three vote swing in the House and it's
a two vote swing or three vote swing in the Senate.
So again, we don't have a mandate to govern with,
and so it's very difficult to maintain the cuts that
Elon was advocating for. But at the same time, we
need to continue to keep trying to cut that deficit back.
So this is a very tough one. But you have
two you have two men who are multi billionaires, who
(01:36):
are very powerful and have these egos, and you're seeing
them kind of clash right now, and it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Yeah, it's interesting, to say the least, so and entertaining too.
Let's shift gears and talk about Operation Last Stand. That
was the raid on the Alamo nightclub in Ladson last weekend. Obviously,
there was a lot of planning that went into that.
You know, how were how was law enforcement tip off
that there were so many I think there was one
(02:02):
hundred and sixteen warrants issued and they executed eighty of them.
How did all of this come to light and come
to fruition?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So, first off, I want to give a quick shout
out to the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Carl Richie,
who ran on the platform that he was going to
crack down this stuff, and he's keeping his word. Sheriff
Richie's doing a fantastic job. This is the third such
law enforcement operation that I have been associated with or
invited to attend in the last four months since he's
(02:31):
been sheriff. Obviously a state law enforcement division of the
FBI dea ice, I mean, this is a hodgepodge of
state and federal agencies. They're the lead. There's an ongoing
investigation associated with this, so I don't want to give
out too much as to how they were tipped off
for how this thing came to light, because I could
compromise the investigation. But I do want to tie this
(02:54):
back to a national issue. I was at the southern
border two weeks ago at the UMISSEC and I met
with border patrol officials. They told me to give us comparison.
In May of twenty twenty three, in the height of
the Biden administration, there were an average of one thy
five hundred illegal crossings per day at that section of
(03:15):
the border, and May of twenty five. This past month,
there were an average of four illegal crossings per day
from fifteen hundred to four. We have effectively, through the
President Trump's policies, have shut down the illegal migration of
the southern border. Unfortunately, like holes in a boat, you
can plug the holes in the boat, but you still
have the water that leaked in. This sting operation is
(03:38):
a byproduct of the Biden administration's failed policies at the border,
because you allowed all of these people into the interior
of the United States. Every drug trafficking case that we
prosecute in a state grand jury is associated with Mexican
drug cartel, in local gangs like MS thirteen Trendy Iragua.
So we are now bailing out the water and supporting
(03:59):
a lot law enforcement like what happened here as prosecutors,
and we're going to continue to put these people under
the prison and get them out of our country.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You're just shorting us. Live of South Carolina's US Attorney General,
Alan Wilson, we're digging into Operation Last Stand, the Low
Country Ice raid. Over the weekend. You mentioned Sheriff Carl
Ritchie in that pat on the back. Absolutely he said,
I'm doing exactly what I was elected to do. And
to your point, Trump ran on that very same platform.
It's why he had an overwhelming win in my opinion
(04:30):
back in November. It was about the economy and it
was about securing our border. So one of the huge
headlines this week. And I thank god from a local
perspective that all involved in this rate over the weekend
and lads and Attorney General Wilson that it didn't turn
violent or deadly. But that is not the case for
ICE rays across America. We just played a Handity Morning
(04:51):
Minute here at the top of the hour, and he
addressed the dangers these ICE agents are being docked. You
know now they're being forced to kind of mask their
fai because of the protest against them and their families.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
No, it's horrible, it's disgusting, and it should not be tolerated.
You know that the left is coming at the men
and women in blue who are standing between us and
total anarchy here. I mean, there are people here who now,
there are people who come to America to seek a
better way of life. And I applaud that. I do
not applaud them violating federal law to get here, but
I applaud their reasons, but there are people who are
(05:24):
coming here. They might be part of a Mexican drug cartel,
they might be part of some South American gang, they
might be associated with some terrorist proxy group. This is
not just a public safety issue. This is a national
security issue. And the men and women in law enforcement
are risking their lives. I'm talking to them every day.
I'm involved in multiple investigations right now. Hey, listen, Kelly,
(05:44):
think about this. One of the people that was arrested
had a murder warrant issued by inter Pole. We had
people who were allegedly trafficking kids. We had trafficking human
trafficking victims. Miners were liberated from this bust. I mean,
d bugs, cash, elicit, the narcotics. I mean, this is
what this law enforcement sting operation yielded for the people
(06:07):
of this community. And you know, Scarlett Wilson, your solicitor,
is going to get this case and prosecute it. We're
going to stand ready to support her in state court.
We're going to support the US Attorney in federal court,
and we're going to continue to work with low local
law enforcement to go after these dug cartels. And I'm
going to put these people and I only want to
call them people. We're going to put these thugs under
the prison.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah, it's very concerning that's going on right here in
our own community.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Scarlett Wilson, she's going to be basically adjudicating this in
a court of law. You think she's going to see
judicial push back like we've seen across the country with
the Trump administration.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, you know, Scarlett's going to be prosecuting. She and
her team will be prosecuting these cases in state court
where there's better and more close judicial oversight by the
state legislature. I don't anticipate in criminal courts here in
South Carolina that she'll get a lot of pushback. I'll
defer to her to answer that question. I will say
this that when the Solicitor's Office gets these cases, are
office will be standing by to support them in any
(07:02):
way that we possibly can. Obviously, federal courts are a
different story, especially in different regions of the country, and
I've been involved, Kelly, as you know, in a number
of cases where judicial activism was at play, where they
tried to stop the president from implementing his agenda that
he was elected to do. One such was when he
tried to remove the two hundred plus trendy Iragua gang
(07:23):
members in a single circuit judge or a district court
judge blocking. I led a twenty six state effort to
overturn that. We had some success there. So we're going
to continue to defend the president. We're going to continue
to take this fight to the courts and federal district
courts all over the country, but here at home in
South Carolina. This is a reason why I'm advocating for
judicial reform so that we can have more executive branch
(07:44):
oversight over the judiciary.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, and I was going to ask you about that,
Attorney General, So you know, is this a part of
a natural way that the system works? Are these judges
abusing their positions? I mean, of course, they're a part
of the checks and balances, a part of the coequal
branches of government. And even though we don't like the
decisions that they make and the actions they take with
(08:08):
these injunctions, is that not how the system is designed
to work.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Well, I always tell people we have the worst criminal
justice system, or we have the worst judicial system in
the world except for every other kind. That's a rip
off of Winston Churchill's term on democracy. But the point
is is that you want to have judicial independence, but
you also want to balance that against judicial accountability. There
are judges out there. You want judges to not feel
(08:35):
political pressures because there's a lot of legal cases that
are very difficult and they're controversial, and you want the
judge to not feel political pressure from either side. You
want them to come to the right conclusion without feeling
like they're going to be thrown out if someone disagrees
with them. At the same time, you don't want judges
to hide behind that iron curtain where they can just
wield their own personal views as opposed to the rule
(08:57):
of law. And so there's a balance there. But that
all goes back to how we select judges and how
we hold them accountable once they're in office, and there
needs to be safeguards there, which is why I spent
the last ten years advocating for how we elect judges
in South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So, Attorney Ja Rolin Wilson, we're we're up with this.
You mentioned before the break people here illegally who you
know for years, potentially contributing to our society. What is
your message, especially when people are showing up to court
dates and are being detained for those who are not
trend to a ragua or MS thirteen.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well, look, I mean, first off, follow the law. You
can't go wrong following the law. I mean when you're
told to report. You know, Ronald Reagan tried to do
an amnesty back in nineteen eighty seven, and that was
supposed to cure the immigration crisis of that time, and
it didn't. I mean, we did exactly that in eighty seven,
and here it is nearly forty years later, and we're
dealing with the same issues. Nationally. There are people who
(09:51):
are good people who wanted to if they came to
this country to seek a better life, but they got
here illegally. My message to them would be follow the law.
We should create incentives to encourage people to do the
right thing. We've for the last four years of the
Biden administration, we've incentivized people to break the law, listen,
centivized them to follow the law, and then listen force it.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
That sounds like good advice. South Carolina Attorney General Ellen Wilson,
thank you for your time this morning, sir.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Thank you, Thank you both.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Thanks for listening to the Charleston Morning News podcast. Catch
Kelly and Blaze weekday mornings from six to nine
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