Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement operation at a Memphis nightclub could ultimately “expose a whole lot more,” raising questions about the establishment’s ownership, permits, and roughly $70,000 in federal Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Speaking on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert discussed Operation Corral Light, which resulted in approximately 120 arrests at the Memphis establishment.
Pappert said the business has apparently operated under multiple names, with records pointing to “Marisqueria El Corral” rather than the “El Corralón” name used in some public reporting.
“If you look at the sign outside the building, it’s faded, it’s sun damaged, but it originally said Marisqueria El Corral. Slightly different name,” Pappert said.
According to Pappert, the Memphis Permits Office told The Star it could find no records of a beer permit or dance permit for the establishment. The office also reportedly said a man named Marco Sabillon-Urbina attempted to obtain a beer permit in 2017 but was denied.
Addressing questions raised by other media outlets about the warrant used to access the nightclub and how many of those arrested have since been released, Pappert argued that the focus on the warrant overlooks questions about the nightclub itself, which he said appeared to be operating without required permits.
“It is a bit rich when you see media reporting questioning whether the warrants used here were legitimate or not, especially when it seems as though this business was operating as a nightclub without a dance permit and without a beer permit. They also don’t have an alcohol permit with the state of Tennessee. It just seems as though asking about whether ICE got the right type of warrant is the wrong question to ask,” he said.
Pappert said The Star subsequently asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE whether Urbina was among those arrested during the operation.
“We now know from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, they told me this morning, that Sabillon-Urbina was arrested at El Corralón during Operation Corral Light,” Pappert said.
Pappert said DHS told him Urbina had previously been deported in December 2024 after an earlier federal case. He also said The Star located a 2023 plea agreement in which Urbina admitted guilt to possessing a firearm as a drug user and agreed to a final deportation order.
Pappert said the circumstances surrounding Urbina’s return to the United States and his alleged connection to the nightclub remain questions for further investigation.
He also discussed approximately $70,000 in PPP loans associated with the business.
“We don’t know for certain that he is the business owner, but all records seem to point that way,” Pappert noted. “And if so, as I said, it does look like that is evidence that an illegal alien got about $70,000 in two different PPP loans from the U.S. taxpayer.”
Pappert said the investigation could extend beyond the ICE raid itself, particularly because of questions surrounding the nightclub and the federal loans.
“I certainly hope that [the Trump administration] is going to take this seriously because this has the potential to be more than just a story about an ICE raid. This could be a story about an ICE raid that all of a sudden exposes a whole lot more,” he said.
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
– Watch LIVE here on X
– Watch LIVE on YouTube / Rumble / Roku / AppleTV
– Listen on Spotify
– Listen on WENO AM760 in Nashville
– Read more at @TheTNStarhttps://t.co/jNnxaf6nrx— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) September 3, 2026
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
