Tren de Aragua and cartel supply lines into South Carolina

Public South Carolina cases from 2020 through 2026 describe local and regional drug trafficking organizations supplied by Mexican cartels, CJNG among them, in Horry, York, the Upstate and the Charleston area. Tren de Aragua appears in South Carolina public records mainly through ICE statements, a 2025 Summerville shoplifting case and the 2026 Operation Last Stand indictments, which name it as an association, not a charged membership. Since February 20, 2025, TdA, CJNG, Sinaloa and CDN have been designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Key South Carolina cases

Operation Broken Branch (Horry County): the FBI Pee Dee Safe Streets Gang Task Force and local partners arrested 23 defendants on June 30, 2020. On March 14, 2022, the USAO announced that all 30 defendants had pleaded guilty and been sentenced on two indictments with 72 counts. This is a CONVICTED case; the CJNG link is to one supplier. [7][1]

Los Banditos (Greenville, May 18, 2022): 124 charges against 34 defendants, with seizures of almost 11 kilograms of methamphetamine, 584 grams of cocaine, about $63,000 and over 20 firearms. Las Senoritas (Upstate, January 12, 2023): 170 charges against 43 defendants, with conspiracy to traffic 400 grams or more of methamphetamine as the lead charge. Both are State Grand Jury indictments, and the Attorney General stated that all defendants are presumed innocent. [8][2]

Rafael Contreras Ramos, 40, of Mexico, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2026 to a drug conspiracy in South Carolina. The USAO said his organization brought more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of fentanyl and 1 kilogram of heroin into the state, and Contreras was extradited from Mexico. Timothy Markee Gayton, 34, of Rock Hill, was sentenced on April 20, 2026 to 25 years for fentanyl pill labs in the York County area; the USAO referred to his "cartel supply networks" without naming a cartel. [3][9]

Operation Last Stand (Charleston area, August 24, 2026): five indictments with 59 charges against 31 defendants were unsealed, and the case is PENDING. WCIV tied the case to a June 2025 club raid in Ladson where 86 people were arrested (7 criminal, 79 administrative immigration arrests). The Attorney General's release dates a North Charleston nightclub warrant to February 8, 2026 with the same arrest counts; the two dates have not been reconciled. [4][10]

Inside SCDC

The Attorney General alleged that the Las Senoritas defendants coordinated with SCDC inmates over contraband cell phones to have drugs, mainly methamphetamine, delivered. It named SCDC inmates Darrell Foster McCoy Jr. and Matthew David McCoy, who it said had been incarcerated since 2015 and "allegedly continued trafficking methamphetamine from prison." The SCDC Office of Inspector General assisted in both Las Senoritas and Last Stand. [2][4]

Where it stands

Since February 20, 2025, Tren de Aragua, CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel del Noreste have been designated FTOs. The Attorney General's August 24, 2026 Last Stand release calls Los Zetas/CDN and CJNG "designated Foreign Terrorist Organization" cartels. No public South Carolina release reviewed charges a defendant with a terrorism offense tied to these designations. [6][4]

On June 17, 2025, the South Carolina Attorney General led a 25-state amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit supporting Alien Enemies Act removals of Tren de Aragua members. This is litigation advocacy and is not a South Carolina prosecution. [11]

The full profile, with every source, the county records and a dated timeline, is on the group page.