Texas developer disputes political assertions community is a haven for unlawful immigrants

AUSTIN — One of the developers of a sprawling and fast-growing subdivision in rural Southeast Texas pushed back with force Thursday against a narrative gaining traction in conservative media and advanced by Gov. Greg Abbott that the region has become a haven for undocumented immigrants, gangs and human-traffickers.

John Harris, who with his brother Trey began building what is now known as Colony Ridge in unincorporated Liberty County in 2011, told the Texas House State Affairs Committee that their customers are primarily first-time property owners, often with limited credit histories.

But, Harris said, they are also responsible for pumping about $40 million annually into the coffers of the local taxing districts and that their property association dues help pay for 10 sheriff's deputies to patrol the 30,000 acres where about 40,000 people live.

"So the most important thing we did for our customers was provide financing that they couldn't get anywhere else," Harris told the panel. "And that allowed them to become property owners, and that allowed us to grow."

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Harris, along with Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader and County Judge Jay Knight, was called to the Capitol because Abbott is asking lawmakers to enact "legislation concerning public safety, security, environmental quality, and property ownership in areas like the Colony Ridge development" during the special session he convened Oct. 6.

The Colony Ridge controversy caught fire in recent weeks after several conservative news outlets published articles describing the development in headlines as "a magnet for illegal immigrants" and as one of "murders, cartels, squalor." Abbott in late September described the area to conservative radio host Dana Loesch as "a no-go zone," meaning law enforcement officers won't patrol there, and said he ordered troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety to patrol Colony Ridge.

However, other news outlets published on-the-ground reports quoting residents and local officials telling a different story. Colony Ridge, they said, was not unlike countless other rural communities that crop up outside of the reach of city zoning ordinances where double-wide pre-fabs neighbor modern construction, and where residents keep livestock and dogs roam without leashes.

After hearing Harris' testimony, where he acknowledged that some homes "are not beautiful" but that water and sewer lines along with high-speed internet connections extend to each property, Republican state Rep. Jay Dean of Longview wondered aloud why the local concerns of Colony Ridge was taking up the Legislature's time.

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"I mean, we have a lot of major issues to deal with in this state," Dean said. "We preach local control here. And it sounds like local (officials) did everything they were supposed to do it in this development. And now you stepped on the wrong toes or something, it would appear to me, and here we all sit."

Even though addressing the Colony Ridge matter is part of the special session that ends early next month, no related legislation has been filed as of Thursday.

While Harris was testifying, Attorney General Ken Paxton released a letter he sent to several Texas Republican congress members where he described the development in far starker terms. He said residents from nearby communities have alerted his office to complaints about the rapid growth of Colony Ridge, saying it "appears to be attracting and enabling illegal alien settlement."

The scale of the Colony Ridge development has proved unmanageable for effective law enforcement and other key standards of acceptable governance," Paxton wrote. "Violent crime, drug trafficking, environmental deterioration, public disturbances, infrastructure overuse, and other problems have plagued the area and nearby towns."

But Rader disputed many of those assertions. He acknowledged that his deputies have identified members of some gangs among the residents, but they have seen no gang-related crimes and have made no gang-related arrests in Colony Ridge.

Representatives of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said that while Colony Ridge has been cited for sundry violations related to such issues as storm-water runoff and air quality, they were not materially different from other unincorporated neighborhoods in the state.

Speaking with reporters after giving his testimony, Harris said there are likely undocumented immigrants among the residents of Colony Ridge. In applications for financing for land purchases, Harris said potential buyers are not required to give Social Security numbers or to provide proof of citizenship. But he said the development company does not advertise outside of the United States and that many of the buyers are from the Houston area.

"Really the only border that they worry about crossing is Liberty County line," Harris said. "They get to our neighborhood and we are able to provide them with an opportunity to build their lives."

Harris said Colony Ridge is caught in a political "crossfire" and that he's somewhat puzzled by Abbott's decision to single out his development because he and his brothers are longtime supporters who have donated more than $1 million over the years to Abbott's campaign.

"We think Governor Abbott is a good governor," Harris said. But I also know that people make decisions in politics that are confusing to me sometimes, and I just assume there's something going on behind the scenes that that I don't know about. I'm not gonna say anything bad about Governor Abbott. I don't think he's a bad governor."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, @JohnnieMo.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Colony Ridge not a haven for unlawful immigrants, developer says