Texas Monthly: What’s Behind the Fact-Challenged Freak-out Over Colony Ridge?

A candidate for our look at political information.

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Colony Ridge is a vast and booming unincorporated subdivision carved out of what was once a soggy, forested patch of Liberty County. Home to some 40,000 souls, the area is a tight-knit community of primarily Hispanic families, many of whom work in construction, landscaping, and housecleaning. Local law enforcement and the developers believe that the majority of residents are undocumented immigrants from Latin America; most of the remainder are American-born Latinos. Colony Ridge is one of the fastest-growing parts of Texas for a reason: land here is relatively cheap, and the developers offer financing even for immigrants who lack Social Security numbers and credit scores. There are few of the onerous restrictions imposed by the typical homeowner association. In much of Colony Ridge, you can live in a trailer on your property while you gradually build your home—an appealing DIY approach for cash-poor buyers who work with their hands.

That’s the Colony Ridge as it actually exists. But there is a second Colony Ridge, the one depicted in right-wing media. In this alternate reality, the area is a crime-ridden, poverty-stricken settlement of illegal aliens that, in the words of the Daily Wire, “could become a strategic asset for [drug] cartels.” It’s a Brazilian-style favela of shanties and trash and feral dogs that has somehow been hidden from the world for more than a decade. It’s a “magnet” for all the “invaders” streaming across Joe Biden’s open borders.

Over the past two months, this second Colony Ridge has rapidly expanded from the far-right fringe of American politics into the GOP mainstream—like an out-of-control wildfire spreading from treetop to treetop. Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, who represents a district hundreds of miles away in the Panhandle and recently threatened law enforcement officers at a rodeo, complained that “this haven for criminal cartels is terrorizing the state.” Republican officials, including Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, have flown over the area as if they were generals inspecting Helmand Province. Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the development, including by asking the developers for a list of their customers.

The Texas Republican Party passed a resolution in late September calling on the Legislature to take action “to prevent further settlement of illegal aliens in Colony Ridge and any other areas of Texas.” Four far-right state legislators went even further. In a letter, they called on their colleagues to seize control of Liberty County as part of an effort to “clean up and clean out” Colony Ridge. Governor Abbott is apparently listening. He directed the Legislature to take up legislation concerning public safety and home ownership in Colony Ridge during an October special session focused on private school vouchers, an Abbott priority.