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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Editor-in-Chief John Bickley, and I'm co-hosted by Georgia Howe. It's September 17th, and today we're talking about a story that's been making headlines. Tens of thousands of immigrants have settled in a sprawling housing development near Plum Grove, Texas. Joining us now is Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist. Spencer, you traveled to Plum Grove, Texas for this investigation. This is a housing development that includes large numbers of illegal migrants. Is that correct?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That's right. I spent a day surveying the development. It's called Colony Ridge. It's quite large. I ran the numbers off their website and found it to be nearly 60 square miles, almost the size of Washington, D.C. Population-wise, it's home to tens of thousands of people, and many of them are suspected to be in the country illegally.
--:-- John Bickley: So what happens is people are sold half-acre or third-acre tracts of land, and they're responsible for building the homes themselves. A few lots have fully built homes, but most are partially built. Some properties have a dilapidated trailer, and I saw one that didn't even have any structures at all. It just had a tent set up between a couple of bushes.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: As far as we can tell, there aren't even any zoning laws here. So no standards for how people build, and much of it looks like a shanty town that you might find in a third world country. There's addresses spray painted on slabs of plywood. I saw stray dogs running down the street and some of the homes apparently didn't even have any plumbing.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, that's right. We're not sure exactly how many, but estimates range from 30,000 people all the way up to 75,000 people or more. We met independent reporter Michael Yon on the ground and he told us that he expects Colony Ridge to grow immensely in the coming years.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: How many people are they saying live there right now? 50,000?
--:-- John Bickley: I don't know how many live there now. They're on the periphery, and that's kind of the legacy colonia. But this is going to be big enough for 200,000 people. They're actually building a city.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So 200,000 is quite large, and that's bigger than a lot of American cities. We flew over the entire development in a helicopter, and we could clearly see that it's expanding. More lots are being cleared and prepped for development.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, so it's big, and it's getting a lot bigger. What makes you suspect that the people living there, or a majority of them, are illegal?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So it's impossible to know exactly what percentage of the development's residents are here illegally. But the way that the loans are structured makes it very appealing to that demographic. All the loans are owner-financed. Colony Ridge's social media marketing posts also target Spanish speakers. And they urge people to, and this is a quote, own land in the United States.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Everything, all of their marketing materials are in Spanish.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: And according to Todd Bensman, he's a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies. Colony Ridge actually allows people to buy land from real estate developer Torrenos Houston with loans that circumvent the need for a social security number And the interest rates are way above market somewhere around 13 to 15 percent
--:-- John Bickley: So there's little reason to buy there if you have proof of income or could secure a traditional mortgage.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Benzman also said that people who live in the area have told him that neither ICE nor local police are active, meaning that they don't have to worry about deportation. When people are buying in this area, they're buying peace of mind from law enforcement.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so no ICE or Border Patrol, and you say police aren't very active. What about like the county sheriff?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So I spoke with the Liberty County Sheriff. He said that they don't ask about immigration status in the course of regular interactions. One representative told me, and this is a direct quote, I do not believe we check immigration status on each and every traffic stop. That would take forever.
--:-- John Bickley: But he went on to say that they do check status when investigating violent crimes.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: But according to Bensman, the lack of law enforcement presence left an opportunity for the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, both of which he claims were early investors in the Colony Ridge project.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many residents are too afraid to report crime, even violent crime, including even gang murders because of the fear of deportation.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Last September, a 16-year-old girl who had died from a gunshot wound was found in a ditch in Colony Ridge. And we should note, there have been numerous drug and violent crimes in the area. There is one case where the remains of a 42-year-old woman and mother of five were recently found on a Colony Ridge property. The killer's ex-husband was allegedly a high-ranking cartel member.
--:-- John Bickley: There's another incident that you might have heard about in the area, where an illegal immigrant in Liberty County killed five neighbors after they reportedly asked him to stop firing his rifle into the air late one night.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: There's always shootings everywhere. This neighborhood, they're always shooting. And so yesterday I heard the shooting, but I thought it was like a normal day.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The neighbors were also said to have been here illegally. And the killer was a Mexican national who had been deported from the United States on four separate occasions from 2009 to 2016.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. I remember that story. So if this is a known hotbed of illegal immigration, why isn't there an ICE presence?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That's a great question. I spoke with Todd Bensman, and here's what he had to say about that. I can only speculate about that. There's a lot of money being made. There are a lot of political contributions being made. The major media has not publicized this. I think the regular media has been running cover for a lot of years about all of this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They don't like to reveal and have big revelations about pockets of illegal immigrants living in the country.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So there's not a lot of attention. People don't really know what's going on with this place, but it is rapidly expanding. It's in the midst of maybe its greatest boom ever.
--:-- John Bickley: Interesting. So who is behind this development?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Well, Colony Ridge is led by developer William Trey Harris III and his family. Now, what's surprising, he's actually a big donor for the Republican Party. Trey Harris has donated over a million dollars to prominent politicians who are Republicans over the last few years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I spoke with Chris Russo. He's the president of Texans for Strong Borders, and he explained the connections between Colony Ridge developers and Republican politicians.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Obviously, in isolation, political donations don't really tell you the whole story. It does add to the appearance of inaction, partially because these people are large political donors.
--:-- John Bickley: Harris gave $1.4 million to the Governor Greg Abbott campaign, that's Texans for Greg Abbott, from 2018 to 2022. and his wife Celeste Harris also gave to the governor campaign in 2018 Her occupation was listed as Colony Ridge Development
--:-- Georgia Howe: I asked the governor about Colony Ridge and his spokesperson Andrew Mahalaris told the Daily Wire that the governor deployed public safety troopers to Liberty County to support the sheriff's office, but that they have not received requests for additional deployments.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: He went on to note that, quote, the governor's office will ensure the 2017 law the governor signed banning sanctuary cities is upheld.
--:-- John Bickley: We've pressed further, asking specifically about the large donations he received from Trey Harris, but we haven't gotten a response yet.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so over a million dollars directed to the governor's campaign. What other politicians have received money?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Right, so there are plenty at multiple different levels. Harris also donated the maximum amount to U.S. Congressman Morgan Luttrell for his primary, runoff, and general election campaigns in the 2022 cycle. Luttrell is also a Republican, and he represents Texas' 8th congressional district, which borders Colony Ridge.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I reached out to Luttrell to ask about the donations, and he told us that he just recently learned about the area. He also went on to say that he is working with local officials to address, quote, cartel presence, gang activity, and trafficking.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: As for the money he received from Colony Ridge, his office told us, and we're quoting here, the congressman is beholden to no one. He also said he will seek information on, quote, potential wrongdoings at Colony Ridge.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We also asked the campaign if they would return the donations from the developer, but we haven't received a response yet.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Then there's also state representative Ernest Bales. He represents the district where Colony Ridge is located. That's House District 18. Harris donated $1,800 to Bales. But Bales also got $6,500 from a political action committee associated with Cote and Rose. That's a law firm that Trey Harris pays for lobbying services.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Bales also got another $9,000 from the PAC of Entergy, an energy company that services all six of the subdivisions that make up Colony Ridge. But the largest donor to Bales at $10,000 is Randy Ellis. Ellis owns a pipeline and earthwork company employed by Colony Ridge.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: A cross-reference of obituaries reveals that Bales and Ellis are cousins. Bales has yet to respond to our requests for comment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so there's a lot of elected officials who are getting a lot of money from entities connected to this development. Are there any politicians, any leaders raising the alarm about this?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Yes, there's at least one. U.S. Representative Brian Babin represents Texas' 36th congressional district, which borders Colony Ridge. Babin has been the most outspoken, and it's also worth noting that he has not received any donations from Trey Harris.
--:-- John Bickley: He was one of the only elected representatives willing to speak with us on the record. He flew over Colony Ridge about a week after I did. It was very concerning to fly over it. It's got an enormous footprint. In the three years since I last saw it, it looks like it's pretty much doubled in size.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: It looks like they've got another very large area being clear-cut. Representative Babin also warned that the development could be allowing for cartel activity in the area.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Information I'm aware of on a federal level is that back in 2013, a while back, federal, state, and local law enforcement raided a cartel compound, which looked like to be a cartel compound in Liberty County, that had explosives, thousands of marijuana plants, worker bunkhouses, even guard towers.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: The word is that the cartels are playing a role in this area.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, so the picture being painted here is sort of out of control. It sounds like there's a lot of crime, you know, not a lot of oversight from the state.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Well, that's a complicated question. We know that in Liberty County where this is located any individual can legally loan money and sell land to another individual regardless of citizenship status We know that the interest rates are sky high but again if people enter these contracts freely and are able to make the payments then it legal
--:-- Georgia Howe: As for the immigration piece, it's not on the landowner to enforce immigration law. Former residents have also alleged that the developer is engaged in predatory and deceptive tactics, but most residents don't fight back. In most cases, the residents simply foreclose and walk away from their investment, and the land is quickly resold.
--:-- John Bickley: So this is all happening just outside of Houston. Is this kind of operation unique, or is it being replicated in other places?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So that's not exactly clear right now. I spoke with J. Michael Waller. He's a senior analyst for strategy with the Center for Security Policy, and he's also an expert on political warfare and intelligence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He says that similar enclaves of new immigrants are popping up around the country, with Colony Ridge being the largest and most established.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: We do know that Trey Harris is continuing to purchase more land, and it's suspected that other developers in border states may take advantage of a similar economic niche.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One thing that Waller emphasized is that, aside from the obvious immigration issues, the biggest issue with these developments is they create ghettos of non-assimilation, as well as hotbeds for more serious crime.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: These things are happening everywhere. You're seeding the entire country with these different populations. They have no idea of the American founding, of American founding principles. They haven't taken any training in what it is to be an American, what your obligations are as an American, what's the American way of life all about.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Waller also warned that pockets like this will be taken advantage of by cartels. Think of the criminal elements with the cartels that come in through that chain migration because who's running the chain migration with the cartels?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So this is going to be a cartel land near Houston and at risk of being no-rozone because they're not Americans and not Americans. It's going to change the entire United States of America, and it already has been. They're being planted in pockets around the country.
--:-- John Bickley: What about its impact on the people in the area? How has this affected the neighboring town of Plum Grove, for example?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Well, it's really been devastating. Colony Ridge is extremely unpopular in Plumgrove, largely because they claim sewage from substandard plumbing was draining into the local floodplains.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For perspective, Plumgrove is a tiny town with just over 1,000 residents. It's an understatement to say that its infrastructure has been strained by the growing development.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: But the biggest effect has been on the local schools. A 2020 report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that the Cleveland Independent School District was receiving more than 100 new enrollments every month. That's forced the residents to sign up for $300 million in bonds to finance four new schools and the expansion of a fifth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The school district has also struggled with the sudden surge of non-English speakers, and it's now offering $7,000 annual stipends to bilingual teachers.
--:-- John Bickley: So what are the lawmakers who are concerned about this doing? Are they taking any action?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Well, right now, not much. Benzman believes that awareness is the first step, and after that, Congress needs to act.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I think the best starting place to address this is to just create public knowledge. And the best way to create public knowledge is for the House Republicans to hold a hearing on this and bring witnesses in, federal, state, local, and put this on the map in a public hearing.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Spencer, thanks so much for digging into this and traveling there to see it yourself. We'll definitely be following up.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist, and this has been a Sunday edition of Morning Wire.
