No one knows just how many other “Colony Ridges” populate Texas. But there are dozens and dozens of them including many in the Greater Houston area and Katy.
“Did you know that the developers of these communities offer potential homebuyers a vision of a butterflies-and-daisies version of paradise but require just two IDs from anyone from any country to buy real estate there?” the article continued.
“…The truth is more like a version of hell: gangs, crime, violence and shoddy infrastructure that allows flooding, sewage leaks, excess garbage and a myriad of other problems. Gang violence and drug trade in particular are a way of life there… in fact, there is no background check whatsoever, and although not everyone who buys from these developers [has] ill intentions, it opens up opportunities for drug cartels to move right in and cause problems.”
A couple of weeks ago, Katy Christian Magazine broke a jarring investigative report into one of the Houston-area “colonias,” or substandard housing developments where residents lack basic services such as drinking water, sewage treatment and paved roads. These communities are hubs for illegal immigration, and along with it, sex, human and drug trafficking. Furthermore, the broader the scope of the colonia, the broader its path of ecological destruction, and their growth is exponential.
We uncovered Colony Ridge, located just outside of Houston, and home to over 75,000 illegal immigrants. The community, known as the “world’s largest trailer park,” is responsible for tens of thousands of gallons of toxic fecal contamination, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lab report.
But the problem extends far beyond Colony Ridge and its environmental contamination. Colonias are linked to political contamination, and as they emerge from the shadows in legions across Texas, yet another crooked scandal unfolds involving multimillionaires, shady donations and dirty Texas RINO politicians.
“The State of Texas has undertaken a number of programs to remedy the conditions in existing colonias and to prevent new colonias, including authorizing enforcement lawsuits by the Office of the Attorney General,” said the Office of the Attorney General. “In addition, the Office created and maintains an extensive Colonia Geographic Database for the border region.
The OAG’s “Colonia Geographic Database,” which solely documents the colonias along the Texas-Mexico border, can be viewed below.
“The Office of the Attorney General has enforced responsibilities under several of these laws… Texas laws intended to prevent colonias take a variety of forms and apply in a variety of circumstances. The Texas Legislature has refined these laws during the past 15 years. Some of the major laws apply only in the border area or in ‘economically distressed’ counties with high unemployment and low per capita income,” the OAG continued.
“These laws have four major thrusts: requiring subdividers to provide basic infrastructure (water, sewer, roads and drainage) when creating (or ‘platting’) new residential developments; restricting the advertising and selling of lots that are not platted or that lack water and sewer; limiting connections to utilities in substandard areas; and mandating certain disclosures and protections when lots are sold through contracts for deeds.”
These laws and regulations would be fantastic, were they not inherently useless. Foremostly, these measures basically only apply around the border, which is the only colonia-infested region that the State of Texas actually documents and pays any mind. Colonias can be found throughout the state, particularly in the rural outskirts of major cities like Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. So never mind the fact that these regulations would never work here; they aren’t even here at all.
Furthermore, as we’ve seen with Colony Ridge, which is out of the state government’s narrow gaze and thus enforces zero legal regulations, subdividers don’t particularly care about “providing basic infrastructure.” They’re after quick cash turnarounds, and are more than willing to take undeveloped, raw land, plop a trailer on top of it and call it home. In fact, the shark-loan rates on these properties tower over what anybody else in the U.S. would ever fathom paying, because when you’re here illegally, you don’t have a ton of loan options to sift through.
The next State of Texas “strategy” to prevent colonias is restricting the advertising and selling of lots that are not platted or that lack water and sewer. Again, this flimsy regulation isn’t something that would concern the colonia developers around unsupervised, non-bordering cities. Yet it beckons an interesting question; how and to whom are colonias advertised?
Let’s dissect the strategies of “Colony Ridge Communities,” the development company which created Houston’s largest colonia.
“Colony Ridge Communities… [encourages] immigrants to buy land via various loan loopholes,” iHeart Media reported in a recent article.
“Funded by the Harris Family, prominent political donors from Cut and Shoot, the community in Liberty County is now home to the largest settlement of illegal immigrants in the entire country. Over 75,000 illegals now call the area home, and Todd Bensman from the Center for Immigration Studies says it was made with the invaders in mind.”
Its creation was enabled by the direct owner-to-buyer sale of three-quarter lots in the area to market to illegal immigrants specifically, and this has been going on for over ten years now, Bensman said.
“In fact, the marketing company for the community, Terrenos Houston, specifically advertises to illegals, saying they do not need traditional loans. Immigrants are able to get the land via ITIN loans, which specifically circumvent [the] need for a Social Security Number in the application process,” iHeart Media said.
Once in an established colonia, illegals can continue residing there without fear of consequences.
“‘The people who buy this land say they do not have to worry about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or police, or anyone else bothering them about their immigration status,’” Bensman told iHeart Media. “‘So, it is extremely appealing to immigrants, even though they have to pay outrageous interest on these loans.’”
Disturbingly, after scouring the internet for days, we’ve realized that there is no account of the actual number of colonias in Texas. The government, as established, solely focuses on border colonias, abandoning our cities to fend for themselves. And we’ve done just that, pinpointing the locations and descriptions of some of the colonias surrounding Greater Houston, other than Colony Ridge:
- Donigan Road, just south of I-10; reports of stolen equipment and zero building standards. Described as the “Wild West” and “Third World.”
- Beckendorff Road, north of Katy; “No one maintains the roads in most of this region.”
- Woodbine Meadows, off Bauer Road in Hockley.
These colonias, while small, are rapidly expanding as greed-driven developers clear land and forests to move new immigrants in. Within the next decade or two, Houstonians should expect to see each location operate similarly to the notorious Colony Ridge; unsustainably and dangerously.
Since our article exposing Colony Ridge hit the spotlight, multiple other news reports have surfaced, describing the atrocities and dangers lurking in the trailer park.
“Fentanyl and other drugs, along with flooding, raw sewage, sex crimes and rampant crime are part of day-to-day life at Terrenos Houston, or Colony Ridge, housing developments outside of Houston that are home to a primarily immigrant community facing [a] growing list of serious problems related to drugs and crime, among other issues,” reported news source Terrenos Houston Demanda in a recent article.
“Did you know that the developers of these communities offer potential homebuyers a vision of a butterflies-and-daisies version of paradise but require just two IDs from anyone from any country to buy real estate there?” the article continued.
“…The truth is more like a version of hell: gangs, crime, violence and shoddy infrastructure that allows flooding, sewage leaks, excess garbage and a myriad of other problems. Gang violence and drug trade in particular are a way of life there… in fact, there is no background check whatsoever, and although not everyone who buys from these developers [has] ill intentions, it opens up opportunities for drug cartels to move right in and cause problems.”
Just last year, a sixteen-year-old Houston girl was violently murdered and left in a ditch in dystopian Colony Ridge, prompting frantic residents to pen open letters to the AG and Greg Abbott, among other officeholders. The girl’s nineteen-year-old ex-boyfriend, one of the three parties responsible for her death, was a fugitive of ICE, and had relatives who lived in the development.
“Meanwhile, people who bought houses in the community say they are struggling to stay afloat amid horrific living conditions put in place by the developer… among [their] claims, the neighborhoods are loaded with drug trade and other criminal activities,” reported Terrenos Houston Demanda.
The community was established by Houston billionaire real estate titan brothers William “Trey” and John Harris, and their cousin, Kevin Harris. The Harris family and their team are selling flood-zone lands to people without disclosing this fact, or by directly lying about this fact, homeowners in the region claim.
“We’ve had countless people crying out to us for help due to rampant drug trade, sex trade, drunk driving and the lakes of water on their properties when it rains,” one resident said.
The residents of the surrounding area have been fighting with the county of Cleveland to stop Harris’ company from expanding these colonias without properly managing their sewage, water and environmental impacts. However, these appeals fall on deaf ears as the county continues approving the platting of more land.
Why sign off on more platting? Matters are about to get political. Our frequent readers are already lacing up their boots and venturing outside to follow the money.
TX Gov. Greg Abbot recently signed an executive order labeling drug cartels as terrorist groups and urging the Biden administration to do the same. He announced his plans during a press conference on border security, speaking against the dangers of fentanyl, smuggled into the country by Mexican drug cartels.
“Texans are victimized by Mexican cartels that produce and import [fentanyl]. So, cartels are terrorists. And it’s time that we start treating them that way,” Abbott said. “So today, I have issued this executive order designating cartels as terrorists in Texas.”
Abbot directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to identify gangs that are supporting Mexican cartels and work to seize assets, as well as to disrupt cartel networks, he said.
Yet our charming Texas governor is a source of dry laughs across Texas, as Abbott condemns cartels, the drug epidemic and illegal immigration in the public’s eyes, and accepts financial donations from the sanctuary for these cartels, the Harris family, in private.
The Harris family is one of Gov. Abbott’s top financial backers, and in accepting millions of dollars in their donations, Abbot has agreed to turn a blind eye to colonias, which create opportunities for cartels to easily enter the country illegally and set up camps right outside of our city.
Furthermore, Abbott only exacted his executive order after ten Texas Republican congressmen penned a letter to the governor and to AG Ken Paxton raising concerns about Colony Ridge.
These congressmen include Reps. Brian Babin, Kay Granger, Troy E. Nehls, Chip Roy, Ronny Jackson, Morgan Luttrell, Michael C. Burgess, Michael McCall, Keith Self and Randy K. Webber.
In their letter, these representatives noted the increase in violent crime in the region, including “several high-profile murders, the largest drug busts in the history of Liberty County and continuous drug cartel activity.”
Politically knowledgeable Texans do not buy into Abbott’s facade.
