Owner of Arizona taco restaurants pleads guilty to employing undocumented migrants

PHOENIX — The owner of multiple Arizona taco restaurants pleaded guilty on Wednesday to knowingly employing undocumented migrants, officials said.

Blademir Angulo Audeves, 42, also pleaded guilty to the charge of alien in possession of a firearm, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Prosecutors said that Audeves is also an undocumented migrant himself.

Details on owner of Arizona taco restaurants pleading guilty

In his plea, Audeves admitted to owning and operating El Taqueria El Taco Loko LLC, which consisted of a brick-and-mortar restaurant as well as two mobile restaurants in metro Phoenix.

Prosecutors said Audeves knowingly hired and employed at least 12 undocumented migrants. He also confessed to owning three firearms and ammunition, despite his immigration status.

Audeves was arrested at his home in Laveen on July 8.

He reportedly had a previous exchange with authorities in 2011 when he was in the country illegally and had returned to Mexico in 2021.

If convicted of being an undocumented migrant in possession of a firearm, Audeves faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Meanwhile, if Audeves is convicted for knowingly employing undocumented migrants, the maximum penalty is six months in prison and a fine of $3,000 for each migrant he employed.

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