March 05, 2012 7:44 PM

Jared Taylor

NEAR ALTON — A man detained for operating a stash house claims a brutal prison gang forced him to “babysit” the 33 immigrants discovered there last week.

U.S. Border Patrol agents detained an illegal immigrant near Falfurrias in late February who said she could lead investigators back to the stash house where she’d been kept.

Agents began conducting undercover surveillance on the house at 10120 N. Mayberry Road — just south of Highway 107 — on Feb. 29, a criminal complaint states. Agents say they found the man there they would later arrest for harboring illegal aliens.

Border Patrol alongside the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office and Alton police raided the property on Thursday.

Authorities arrested the house’s caretaker, Miguel “Junior” Angel Garza, 24, who allowed agents to enter the house upon their arrival.

“OK, OK, you guys know, you guys know,” Garza told agents in Spanish upon their arrival.

Inside the house, agents said they found 33 illegal immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador living in the hot, cramped quarters.

Among the immigrants held at the house was an 8-year-old girl, who said she’d been at the location for more than a week. She had no family with her.

Garza, of Mission, told agents the Texas Syndicate forced him to care for the illegal immigrants. Because he had been convicted of indecency with a child — a 14-year-old girl — in 2006, he was unable to be a member of the prison gang and “forced to work for them,” the complaint states.

The Texas Syndicate is widely considered one of the state’s largest prison gangs, with members throughout Texas participating in drug trafficking and human smuggling operations.

The Syndicate notably performed several murders in the Rio Grande Valley and has contracted with Los Zetas and other cartels to move narcotics through the state, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Garza told agents he was a “babysitter” for the illegal immigrants. But the immigrants told agents he didn’t provide much sanctuary.

One man told agents he and his fellow immigrants were given two eggs and three tortillas once a day. Sometimes there wasn’t enough food for everyone, he said.

Another woman told agents Garza would tell the immigrants to not move or go outside when they were inside the house. She said Garza tried to have her go into a bedroom with him “and that worried her,” the complaint states.

Garza is set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby on Thursday in McAllen.

Agents said Garza saw the other illegal immigrants while he was processed at the McAllen Border Patrol Station.

“Te mato,” he told the immigrants, or “I will kill you.” Garza started to laugh and motioned a hand to his head in the shape of a pistol. With his other hand, he made a talking mouth.

“Si hablan, los mato,” he continued. “If you talk, I will kill you all.”

One Old Vet

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