A large housing development north of Houston that reportedly houses nearly 75,000 unlawful migrants will be the potential focus of upcoming legislation.
The Colony Ridge development allegedly houses somewhere from 50,000 to 75,000 people who entered the U.S. unlawfully, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Reportedly, cartel activity in the area — dubbed by some as the largest “colonia” in America — is virtually unrestricted, and unlawful migrants are able to purchase shacks or trailers using Individual Tax Identification Number loans, which do not require a person to have legal residence in the country, as covered by The Dallas Express.
During a recent radio interview with Michael Berry, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the existence of the development and indicated he would be working with top state officials to determine the best course of action.
“I’m very aware of it,” he said, referring to the Colony Ridge settlement. “It was interesting. When I was campaigning last year on my bus tour, I kind of wrapped up in that area and I was not familiar with it — I had heard about it but was not very familiar.”
“I talked with the law enforcement over there, and they were telling me what a huge problem that is,” Patrick continued.
“I’m going to ask, once I get a little bit more legal foundation on this to see what we can do, I’m going to ask Governor Abbott to look at addressing some of these issues in a special session if we can,” Patrick promised.
“Now that Paxton’s back on the job, I’m going to reach out to him today,” he continued, referring to the recently reinstated Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“This massive complex of people here illegally, creating their own city just north of Houston, is just unacceptable,” Patrick declared.
Texas Lt. Governor @DanPatrick on Colony Ridge: “This is the takeover of our country…”
Texans agree.
Colony Ridge needs to be wiped out and every illegal alien in Texas must be removed. pic.twitter.com/dpPLtAs0qe
— Texans for Strong Borders (@StrongBordersTX) September 20, 2023
“Again, it’s a private development, so we have to look at how we deal with this, but we can’t have entire cities of people who come here illegally with basically no law enforcement. In some cases, I’m told no running water. It’s a very dangerous place to be,” the veteran statesman added.
“This is not what America was built on,” Patrick said. “This is why the Joe Biden policy of open borders has to end.”
“By the time Biden has finished his first four years, he will have let in somewhere between 11 to 15 million people illegally,” he suggested. “And that’s on top of the 25 to 30 million people who were already here.”
“A lot of them uneducated, bad health, they don’t know our foundation, they don’t know our history,” Patrick concluded. “This is the takeover of our country by the Marxist left who are behind Joe Biden as president.”
However, the White House has defended its record on border security, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently saying, “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else,” per Fox News.
“He really has!” she continued. “Look, the president has done what he can from here, from the federal government, from the White House to put forth and manage our border in a safe and humane way to respect the dignity of every human, as he says all the time, and making sure that our communities are safe.”
For some, the White House’s words ring hollow as record numbers of people enter unlawfully, and the federal government elects to sue Texas for taking steps to deter such crossings, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Chris Russo, president of Texans for Strong Borders, explained to The Dallas Express, “We applaud Michael Berry and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick for shining a light on the Colony Ridge illegal alien haven just outside of Houston.”
“We are extremely encouraged by the Lt. Governor’s urging to address this issue through the legislature and by action from the Governor’s and Attorney General’s offices,” he added.
“The Colony Ridge development has been allowed to become a magnet for illegal aliens because of inaction and even alleged corrupt entanglements between the developer and state and local officials,” Russo suggested. “The state must step in and stop this before this business model is replicated and similar developments begin to pop up elsewhere in Texas and throughout our country.”
However, the CEO of Colony Ridge, John Harris, told The Center Square that the subdivisions are “not colonias.” Colony Ridge lawyer Brent Lane told The Center Square that the claims of the area being the U.S.’s largest colonia are “grossly misleading and unsubstantiated.”
