FBI agents and police officers are stationed around the parking lot of Delia’s Tamales in Northwest San Antonio. Credit: Adam Doe

Ricardo Gonzalez, an attorney representing former workers in a lawsuit against Delia’s Tamales, said he wouldn’t rule out recent FBI raids at the chain’s stores being tied to his civil case, KSAT reports.

Even so, Gonzalez told the TV station he would be “speculating” to say the investigation was linked to his suit, which accuses the McAllen-based restaurant chain of using fake social security numbers to hire undocumented workers.

Gonzalez made his comments to KSAT two days after FBI agents conducted an investigation Wednesday afternoon at the Northwest San Antonio location of Delia’s Tamales. Personnel with the law enforcement agency were also reported to have entered Delia’s stores in McAllen and Pharr.

FBI officials declined comment on the actions other than to confirm to the Current that agents carried out “court-authorized law enforcement activity” in the area around the Delia’s in San Antonio.

Attorneys for McAllen-based Delia’s were unavailable for comment, according to KSAT. However, the company has denied wrongdoing in relation to Gonzales’ court case.

All seven Delia’s stores have since reopened.

Gonzalez’s lawsuit, filed by more than two dozen former employees, maintains that Delia’s officials withheld social security deductions from paychecks, which the company ultimately pocketed.

“They’re preying on people who, again, don’t have legal status, and it’s disgusting,” Gonzalez said of the case.

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This article appears in Best of San Antonio 2024.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...