The ‘Best Tamale Maker in Texas’ Has Been Raided by the Feds
Uh-oh! Looks like trouble bubbles for Deila, the self-proclaimed 'best tamale maker in the world' was raided by federal agents in south Texas on Wednesday.
If you have no idea who Delia is or why she's got the G-Men barging in uninvited and rifling through everything, buckle up. This is a hot tamale of a story.
Delia's Tamales is a San Antonio-based business with several locations in the Rio Grande Valley and a restaurant in northwest San Antonio. It's a quaint family business that seems to have expanded substantially since their humble beginnings 30 years ago, per their website.
Needing to provide for her family, Delia started with just $20 in her pocket which she used to buy ingredients to make tamales with one of her sisters. They started with five pounds of masa and used all of their proceeds to continue making tamales.
As of July 23, however, FBI agents swarmed all seven locations in a "court authorized raid", according to San Antonio Express-News.
The raid stems from a lawsuit filed in Hidalgo county against the parent company of Delia's, Delgar Foods LLC. The lawsuit alleges that the owners of Delgar devised a complex scheme to obtain falsified social security cards for 26 former employees so that they could (illegally) legally work for the company.
In a hearing several months prior, the 'Tamale Maker' was "accused of maintaining two sets of books, one for legitimate payroll and one to track under-the-table cash payments," myRGV.com reported.
Definitely federal raid material.
Social Security Insanity & Age Discrimination
As if the forged cards weren't enough, Delia's was also alleged to take the social security taxes out from worker paychecks--but pocketed the change for themselves.
An additional allegation states that the former employees would be laid off by the 'Best Tamale Maker in Texas' as they neared retirement age. Delia's apparently did not want attention drawn to their existing social security scheme.
The workers also say that they frequently worked up to 70 hours a week without overtime pay.
Call Who?
After the workers were laid off for their advancement into the mature age bracket, their attempt to appeal was stymied by company officials threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on them.
Rude.
Now What?
As much fanfare as a federal raid can bring about, it's short-lived. As of yesterday, the San Antonio Current reported that all six Rio Grande Valley locations and the restaurant had their doors open for business as usual.
That's one hot tamale of a tale. To be continued.