Posted: Thursday, October 24, 2013 9:07 pm

Jacob Fischler | The Monitor

Federal agents conducting surveillance on a suspected stash house knew they were onto something when they saw an SUV leave the house and come back with 10 pizzas Monday afternoon.

U.S. Border Patrol agents received a tip that a house in the 300 block of West 14th Street in Mission was being used to harbor immigrants in the country illegally. They watched as a blue Ford Expedition left the property about 1 p.m. Monday and drove to Little Caesars pizza restaurant, returning with about 10 pizzas, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in federal court in McAllen.

Later in the afternoon, agents observed the Expedition and a white Lexus leave the property and asked Alton and Mission police to stop the vehicles.

The man driving the Lexus, Jesus Rojano, admitted to being a Mexican national illegally in the U.S. and said that he was helping harbor and transport other immigrants in the country illegally to repay a $1,400 debt to the people who smuggled him into the country.

The driver of the Expedition, Jesus Garcia, is an American citizen from Chicago. He initially declined to cooperate with authorities, but later told them he harbored immigrants in the country illegally at apartments on West 14th Street.

Authorities returned to the suspected stash house and found 35 people who all admitted to being in the country illegally and staying in the house.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...9bb30f31a.html