Restaurant owner in Lake Street raid spent weeks in ICE detention

The primary owner of two Twin Cities Mexican restaurants was held in federal custody for weeks after officers served search warrants at his business, and is now charged federally with re-entering the United States illegally after having been removed.

Federal officials have said the June 3 raids at eight commercial and residential locations were part of an investigation into a “transnational criminal organization” suspected of drug and human trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes.

Francisco Estrada-Deltaro, who owns Las Cuatro Milpas restaurants in Minneapolis and Bloomington, had been held in the Freeborn County jail since June 3, a corrections officer confirmed by phone last week. The jail officer added that he was being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an “immigration” case.

On Friday, jail officials said he was no longer on its roster. An employee at St. Paul’s ICE field office said that Estrada-Deltaro was still in custody, but not for an immigration case.

He was charged in federal court Wednesday with illegally re-entering the country after having been previously deported three times. The online roster for the Sherburne County Jail shows he was taken there Friday and being held on the federal charge and a state charge of drunken driving.

According to court records, the official spelling of his last name is “Estrada-Deltaro.” Records say he is also known as “Francisco Estrada De Haro.” In last week’s filings, prosecutors alleged that he used different combinations of his names and dates of birth during multiple state criminal cases and arrests dating back to 2003.

Estrada-Deltaro was ordered put under custody of the U.S. Marshal Service prior to a federal court hearing set for Wednesday, according to court records.

In reports by the Minnesota Star Tribune, WCCO, and other media outlets, he went by Hernandez. That name was also used on his initial business license.

James Barger, whose company J&B Holdings owns the properties where the Las Cuatro Milpas restaurants operate, said in an interview that Francisco Estrada-Deltaro is the man’s real name and that Hector Hernandez was the name he often used in public settings. Those with personal connections knew him as Estrada-Deltaro, said Barger, who added that Hector Hernandez was the name of the business owner’s stepfather.

The raids followed the discovery of 900 pounds of meth at a storage unit in Burnsville. A spokeswoman for the city of Minneapolis said Friday that no arrests were made at Las Cuatros Milpas on Lake Street on the day of the raid. Estrada-Deltaro was taken into custody at his home.

Calls to Estrada-Deltaro’s attorney, Elvis Abanonu, were not returned. But in a June 9 interview, Abanonu said that his client was in the Freeborn County jail on an “immigration issue.” The attorney denied during that call that his client had committed any wrongdoing.

Two of the eight properties investigated were the Las Cuatro Milpas restaurants. Barger said he owned several of the other facilities that were raided, including the storage facility where the 900 pounds of meth was discovered. But he denied having any prior knowledge of the drugs.

In the phone call, Barger denied that he or Las Cuatro Milpas were involved with any criminal organization, drug trafficking or money laundering.

“Everybody has a past, but that’s not part of my past or Cuatro Milpas’ past,” he said.

Following the raids, Barger said, he heard directly from Estrada-Deltaro about being in ICE custody. He said they last spoke about two weeks ago while he was in the Freeborn County jail.

Although Barger is the property owner, he said he’s been more of a business partner with Estrada-Deltaro because they had an 80-20 split ownership of the business, with Barger holding 20%.

Both men are listed as the “registered agents” for Las Cuatro Milpas in the database for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office. Barger said he had to sign on as a partial owner to receive Small Business Administration loans.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday provided a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune, attributed to an unnamed official, that said “this operation is part of a larger multi-agency operation. Details will be released as they are available.”

Almost 20 years ago, Barger was federally convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to nearly three years in prison, court records show. The charges alleged that Barger worked with others who brought cocaine to Minnesota from California.

Barger described Estrada-Deltaro as a good friend. He was working as a mechanic when they first met about a decade ago, Barger said.

Barger said his home in Northfield was also raided, that the experience traumatized his daughter and that the raids caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage to his properties.

“They raided my personal house in Northfield, took my office, traumatized my daughter where she wouldn’t even want to get in a truck with me the next day,” Barger said.

A motion this week for detention from federal prosecutors shows that Estrada-Deltaro has an extensive criminal history, including a conviction for felony-level “threats of violence” in 2022, another for fleeing officers more than 20 years ago, and multiple driving-related offenses.

State court records also show Estrada-Deltaro (using the alternate spelling of Estrada De Haro) has an ongoing drunken driving case from October 2024. Police say officers found him after he drove over several shrubs and onto someone’s deck in Long Prairie, Minn.

Estrada-Deltaro failed to make a remote court appearance in Todd County on Tuesday for that case, court records show. During that arrest, responding officers found a New Mexico driver’s license under the name “Estrada De Haro,” and a car with Minnesota plates.

The charges include misdemeanor driving while impaired, possession of an open alcohol bottle, no proof of insurance, careless driving and refusal to test for alcohol.