Blademir Angulo Audeves, 42, is the owner of El Taco Loko, which he runs with his wife and son, Flor and Amir Angulo. The business, which started in 2017, has a brick-and-mortar restaurant in west Phoenix and has expanded its presence during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Valley through a food trailer set up in Laveen and a tricked-out taco bus in Goodyear.
In a three-minute hearing on Friday afternoon, Angulo Audeves, sporting an orange jumpsuit with a long-sleeve, stained, loose white shirt underneath, stood in front of Judge John Boyle with his attorney, Nicholas Bustamante. Shackles were around his hands and waist. He also wore black wired earbuds as a translator recited the hearing in Spanish into his ears.
A dozen or so of Angulo Audeves’ family members sat in the courtroom to support him. After the hearing, Bustamante declined to comment on the case to Phoenix New Times.
After Angulo Audeves pleaded not guilty, Bustamante requested a continuance for the scheduled material witness hearing. He’d been retained by the defendant the day prior, in place of Angulo Audeves’ court-appointed attorney. Boyle granted that continuance and rescheduled the hearing for next week. He also set the trial date for early September.
Angulo Audeves’ arrest struck a nerve in Phoenix. His bus was among the Valley’s most distinctive mobile food vendors. It's outfitted with LED lights, a fully vinyl-wrapped exterior and fan-favorite graphics featuring the cartoon El Taco Loko mascot. Diners could sit in the diesel bus to enjoy their meal or order their tacos to go. El Taco Loko was also known for its carne asada tripas, quesabirria and birria ramen.
The future of that business remains uncertain after Angulo Audeves was arrested and arraigned by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations. Federal agents began investigating Angulo Audeves in March because they “suspected employment of unlawfully present aliens without employment authorization,” according to court documents.
On July 8, agents executed federal search warrants on Angulo Audeves’s home and three physical locations of his business, as well as a 16th Avenue home where several of his employees were living. Angulo Audeves and several employees were arrested. HSI alleges that 12 of Angulo Audeves’ employees were in the U.S. without legal documentation.
The family said that during that raid, Angulo Audeves and his wife, Flor, who is a U.S. citizen, were told to get on the floor and “held at gunpoint,” according to a statement on the company’s TikTok page. Then, they were detained in a heated van for “an extended period.” Additionally, the family alleged that safes were broken into, money and phones were stolen and their “banks were frozen,” leaving the family “with no communication and no source of income.”@eltacoloko_ruby1 Follow me on instagram for more/accurate information @ruby.av_ #imigrantefamily #eltacoloko #migra #ice #fyp ♬ original sound - HermanosEspinozaOfficial
“El Taco Loko isn’t just a place to eat. It’s a cornerstone of the neighborhood,” a statement on the family’s fundraising page reads. “A vibrant business run by an immigrant family that has served thousands, provided jobs, supported local vendors, and created a space of culture, joy, and delicious food.”
According to that page, the business's food trucks and vehicles were seized by agents. The page has raised $8,640 for the family, which they said will go toward legal fees, recovery of property, financial relief and advocacy for others targeted by ICE. They have a goal of raising $30,000.
Per his indictment, several El Taco Loko workers also lived in Angulo Audeves’ home or property and paid him $300 a month to do so. Further, the government alleges, some employees said Angulo Audeves helped them enter the U.S. by loaning them money to pay smugglers or helping organize their transport himself. And once they made it to Phoenix, Angulo Audeves would have a job for them – a $15 per hour job working for El Taco Loko.
In an interview with investigators outlined in court documents, Angulo Audeves denied helping with transport, instead stating that he only hired people already in the country.
“I may have given them a number of a friend in Mexico,” he said in the interview, “but that’s it.”
He said he often receives messages on Facebook or phone calls from people telling Angulo Audeves “they have a friend that needs a job” because they know he has a taco business, but had “no role” in any of his employees entering the country illegally.
Still, employees also alleged they worked at the restaurant locations to pay Angulo Audeves back for these transport loans or “smuggling fees” of up to $12,000 per person.
In addition to charges of harboring and employing illegal aliens, Angulo Audeves is also charged with illegally being in possession of a firearm and his own “improper” entry into the county. When HSI investigators searched his home, they found three firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the main bedroom closet, court documents state. Angulo Audeves said they were gifts, but he knew that, because of his legal status, he wasn’t allowed to have guns.
Angulo Audeves’ longtime friend Richard Chang told New Times in 2024 that Angulo Audeves was born in Guasave, Sinaloa, and left as a teen. He worked at the original El Taco Loco in Tijuana for three years. In 2000, he moved to Arizona and began working in construction and buying and selling cars. In 2017, Angulo Audeves saved enough money to launch his own taco business.
Court documents state that Angulo Audeves first came into contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during “routine jail checks” at the West Valley Detention Center in 2011. In 2018 — a year after he launched his business — he was granted a “voluntary departure” and returned to Mexico in May 2021.
However, after his arrest, Angulo Audeves told investigators that when he started his business in 2017, he had a work permit. Then, he said, three months after returning to Mexico, he returned to the U.S. and “walked through the desert from Mexico into the United States.”
The restaurant’s website remains live, and the company’s Facebook and TikTok pages remain active and encourage customers to come in and try their food. The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Arizona didn’t immediately respond to New Times’ question about what will happen to the taco bus.
