Family of Phoenix taco shop owners taken by federal agents speaks out

Tuesday was supposed to be just another work day for the Angulo family.

Except it wasn't a typical weekday for Vlademir Angulo Audeves and Flor Vargas, the married couple who owns Taquería El Taco Loko, off Indian School Road and 67th Avenue in west Phoenix.

Not in Trump’s America.

The couple and several employees were at the mercy of immigration enforcement and federal officers, taken like countless other Phoenix individuals have been in recent weeks. Their food trucks, assets and properties were also seized.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Angulo and Vargas were detained in a federal investigation related to immigration.

Family and friends are now pleading that he be released and their property returned. On Sunday, they held a fundraiser at the taco shop, calling for the local Phoenix community to support the couple’s two adult children as they face running a business and fighting for their parents’ freedom.

“We’re out here to support the family today by selling tacos, of course, but the cause is Tacos For Good,” Laura Valderrama, a family friend speaking on behalf of the Angulos, said in an interview with CALÓ News. “This is not just about this taco truck — this is an attack on our community, attack on our family and this is an attack on hardworking people.”

A native of Sinaloa, Mexico, Angulo arrived in the U.S. in the early 2000s by way of Tijuana, where he worked in the original El Taco Loco, and settled in Phoenix. A family-operated business, the shop opened its doors in 2019 and is run by the father-son duo. In recent years, they began operating a food truck in Laveen and a food bus that typically roams the southwest Valley.

Taken from their homes and places of work

In CCTV footage captured inside the kitchen of El Taco Loko’s brick-and-mortar shop, agents are seen breaking down the doors, rifles pointed toward the interior as kitchen employees lie flat on the floor, not resisting as several agents storm in.

The video shows the agents forcibly removing two people from the establishment. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, these individuals did not have authorization to be in the country and were charged with re-entry of a removed individual.

The investigation into Angulo began in March 2025, "due to suspected employment of unlawfully present (immigrants) without employment authorization," court documents obtained by CALÓ News state.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) found that he was employing 12 people without authorization to live and work in the country, some of whom lived in his residence in Laveen.

The court documents do not mention why Vargas was detained, but according to Valderrama, she was taken as well and has yet to be released.

According to Valderrama, family attorneys were on the scene when the operation took place, but federal agents — who Valderrama says did not have a warrant to enter their home — did not allow them to speak with Angulo or Vargas.

“They held Vlademir and Flor — (the agents) were masked and armed, they held them hostage on the floor,” Valderrama said of the Tuesday operation that led to their arrest.

Angulo’s first court appearance was on Friday, and in court documents, he told federal agents that he had entered the U.S. without proper authorization in 2021.

According to court documents, Angulo told federal officers that he hired people he knew from his hometown who had recently arrived in the country and would also allow them to rent a space in his home. He told officers that while he knew it wasn’t legal, he was also aware that he wasn’t the only one doing it.

The Angulos’ experience occurred under what the Trump administration calls Operation Take Back America, which uses the full resources of the Department of Justice “to repel the invasion of illegal immigration” and places heavy responsibility on the Department of Homeland Security to go after businesses employing undocumented individuals.

Tuesday’s operation also mirrors others that have taken place across the country since President Donald Trump retook the White House, where immigration enforcement and federal agents have been seen raiding homes and businesses.

The elevated raids stem from the 3,000 daily arrest quota requested in May by the Trump administration. Since then, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and HSI operations have increased by 250%, according to a CBS News analysis of data provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Of the more than 59,000 detained, only about 8% had been convicted of violent crimes.

In Arizona, detentions have increased by about 113%, resulting in over 2,900 arrests since Jan. 20, a New York Times analysis shows.

State Rep. Cesar Aguilar (D-Phoenix) shared his frustrations regarding the current administration’s actions targeting hardworking families like the Angulos, not the hardened criminals Trump promised he would be going after.

The representative called out the incident on social media, sharing the CCTV footage of the operation.

“F**k Donald Trump! Attacking working people in my community and raiding good people,” he wrote in the post’s caption.

Community rallies in support of Angulo family

On Sunday, days after their parents were taken, the family and their friends hosted a fundraising event at the restaurant in west Phoenix. Dozens of people were present, buying tacos, purchasing shirts with the phrase “Not1More” on it and being in community.

“Let’s come together to support the Angulo Family, who have always been there for our community. Because no one should be punished for feeding their neighbors,” the flyer for the event read, shared by Aguilar and other local businesses.

A Give Butter fundraising campaign was also launched on Thursday to support the family’s efforts in recovering the confiscated property, as well as the legal battle ahead for Angulo.

According to Valderrama, federal agents have seized most assets under the family’s name, which is why they are asking for donations.

“When people ask you, ‘is this really happening in our community?’ You say, ‘yes, none of us are safe.’ I’m asking today from the bottom of our heart, come out and support us,” either by purchasing tacos from the shop that opened its doors again on Sunday, or by donating to the online fund.