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The Fall of Colony Ridge: How a Texas Mega-Development Got Brought to Heel | 2.16.26
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A
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50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for a 12 month plan. Taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy see terms. A massively controversial development in Texas, accused of being an illegal immigrant enclave, has agreed to a $68 million settlement with the Trump administration. It's the end of a years long saga that really began with reporting here on this show.
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B
In this episode, we speak to Daily Wire Editor in Chief Brent Scher about the stunning new development, how we got here, and what it means for Texans living in the area.
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C
I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bick. Monday, February 16th, President's Day, and this is a special edition of MORNING Wire.
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D
Religious freedom is a cornerstone of our nation, and Alliance Defending Freedom is committed to protecting it, including by making sure that Christian organizations are free to live out their faith. But right now, Chicago Public Schools is discriminating against the private Christian college, Moody Bible Institute, because it only hires people who share its biblical beliefs. The school district is blocking Moody's elementary education students from participating in Chicago's student teaching program. And in other words, Chicago Public Schools is punishing Moody students for attending a college that practices its faith. Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are representing Moody Bible Institute in a lawsuit to challenge this discrimination. But legal battles like this come with real costs. You can stand with Moody by signing a statement of support right now. Visit joinadf.com wire or text Wired to 83848 to sign the statement of support from Moody Bible Institute. That's joinadf.com wire or text WIRED to 83848 to voice your support for religious freedom. Nothing beats cooking at home. And with our sponsor, HelloFresh, you can do it more often this year. Easy recipes that taste great and make you feel good. Because bringing everyone together on a busy weeknight doesn't have to be complicated. With HelloFresh, you can choose from over 100 recipes every week. Everything from cuisines around the world to comfort meals that help you beat those winter blues. And if you're looking for something a bit healthier, there are more than 35 high protein recipes each week including new Mediterranean and GLP1 friendly options. These are truly some top notch recipes. I've tried everything myself itself from Hawaiian pizza to the fancier side, steak dinners and it's all super easy, super convenient and super tasty. Plus there's now three times the seafood with no upcharge. So you can treat yourself or impress guests without breaking the bank. Because when dinner tastes this good, nothing hits quite like home cooking. Head over to hellofresh.com morningwire10fm to get 10 free meals and a freeze willing knife a $145 value on your third box offer valid while supplies last. Free meals applied as a discount on the first box. New subscribers only. Varies by planning.
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B
Brent, great to have you back in the studio. So look, we've been tracking this story all the way back from 2023 when Spencer Lindquist broke this story. What is the latest?
- [03:16]
E
Yeah, you know, this is the beginning of the end of this saga, or at least it could be. Some necessary background for what made Colony Ridge such a disturbing tale for the country is this place was massive. It was hailed by the developers as the fastest growing development in the whole United States. There was projected growth of over 200,000 people by geographic s was bigger than Nation's capital Washington, D.C. why was it so controversial? It wasn't just a big development. The business model that Daily Wire helped to uncover was that its marketing strategy was completely aimed exclusively at illegal immigrants or at least foreign populations. It was all in Spanish. They were advertising to you that you could buy land in the United States. They advertised unconventional bank loans where you didn't need a Social Security number. I mean, the strategy was pretty obvious and it worked. Illegal immigrants just poured in in Texas.
- [04:13]
B
Right. The growth was really astonishing. And so they obviously broke laws here. We saw lawsuits come in. What exactly were the laws broken by the development?
- [04:23]
E
Yeah. So after our reporting and again it was in 2023, there was just a ton of scrutiny on Colony Ridge. The Blaze did a great documentary on it. The Washington Post, the New York Times, they both sent reporters there to see what we saw. And ultimately the Biden administration sued the development and it over loans and the marketing strategy. They saw that they were selling these people land with very unconventional loans which not only did you not need a Social Security number, but because of that there were these sky high interest rates and the land they got wasn't the best land. It was not what was being advertised in those Spanish only advertisements so what happened was they'd foreclose on it, they'd get this bad land, couldn't really live on it, couldn't keep up with these sky high interest rates. They're being completely taken, taken advantage of. So the Biden administration, CFPB sued for a bait and switch scheme on this Hispanic population.
- [05:21]
B
So this is classic predatory lending type situation.
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E
Yeah, no, it, it completely is. But the interesting thing is here, the Biden administration brought the lawsuit. But now obviously the Trump administration is the one settling the lawsuit. The Trump administration, their Department of Justice is the one settling this lawsuit with the Texas is Republican Attorney General. So the damaged class turns out to be a much different thing. So the settlement that they reached lays the groundwork not only to put an end to the scheme, but also to be a major boost for the surrounding communities around Colony Ridge who are really hurt by this, you know, fastest growing ever development that brought 100,000 people right to their, you know, small little town in Texas.
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B
Now this settlement has come out. We know the details of what was agreed to here. Can you walk us through that?
- [06:14]
E
Yeah, of course. And it's really fascinating. The top line is that it's $68 million not in payments to anybody, but rather payments to fix what they created in Colony Ridge. $20 million will go to building a police center inside Colony Ridge. With this massive influx of a foreign population, the cartel came. It's been a hub for violent crime, for drug activity. It's really been a nightmare in Colony Ridge. Now they're going to have, they're going to hire a new police force just for that area. And remember, this is big in Texas. In the Trump administration, local law enforcement is deputized to execute deportations. So when they are bringing this law enforcement presence there and they are seeing who's committing these crimes, if it's an illegal immigrant, they will be deported by Texas.
- [07:07]
B
Right.
- [07:08]
E
So part of the settlement is to build that. The other 50 million or so dollars is to actually make infrastructure improvements inside Colony Ridge. We talked about the bad land that they were getting, flood issues, just terrible land that's basically uninhabitable. They are now spending $50 million to fix that. And then with the provisions, it kind of makes interesting who's going to be benefit from this. Because first of all now to buy in Texas, you can't get an unconventional loan. It has to be a traditional loan. You have to have either a Texas issued ID, which illegal immigrants cannot get in Texas, or a legal visa issued since Donald Trump took office. That's A provision in there, it's a visa issued in 2025. So these are not going to go to an illegal immigrant population.
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B
All right, so this is designed not just to fix the problems, but create a nice place for Americans to live.
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A
Yeah.
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E
And that's exactly how Harmeet Dhillon, who led this settlement for the Department of Justice, that's how she's framing this. She pledged that her team will always go after schemes that encourage illegal immigration. But she also said that the changes required by this settlement will promote public safety and affordable and sustainable home ownership in America. Key priorities of this administration. Ken Paxton, the attorney General of Texas, I mean, he was more focused just on the illegal immigration aspect of this. He hailed the deal and said that it halts the development of a de facto illegal immigrant community in Texas. So, yeah, I mean, this really may be a positive ending to a major problem in Texas.
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B
And to give us a shout out here, this really all began with Daily Wire reporting. It's amazing to see where this story went. Brent, thanks so much for reporting.
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C
Yeah, of course, as John mentioned, this whole saga began with Morning Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist back in September of 2023. So some of you may remember this, but we want to play that original segment for you now.
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B
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?
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A
That's right. I spend 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. 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. 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 was 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.
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B
And there could be thousands of people living there in those conditions.
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A
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 Yan on the ground, and he told us that he expects Colony Ridge to grow immensely in the coming years. And how many people are they saying live there right now? 50,000.
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E
I don't know how many live there now.
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A
They're on the periphery, and that's kind.
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E
Of the legacy colonia. But this is going to be big enough for 200,000 people.
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F
Right.
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A
They're actually building a city. So 200,000 is quite large, and that's bigger than a lot of American cities.
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B
Yeah.
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A
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.
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B
Okay, so it's big and it's getting a lot bigger. What makes you suspect that the people living there are, a majority of them are illegal.
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A
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.
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B
Own land in the US that's actually the language.
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A
Well, kind of. They say Estados Unidos. Okay. Everything. All of their marketing materials are in Spanish. 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 Tarrendo's Houston with loans that circumvent the need for a Social Security number. Really? And interest rates are way above market, somewhere around 13 to 15%. So there's little reason to buy there if you have proof of income or could secure a traditional mortgage. Bensman 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.
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G
When people are buying in this area, they're buying peace of mind from law enforcement.
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B
All right, so no ICE or Border Patrol. And you say police aren't very active. What about, like, the county sheriff?
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A
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. But he went on to Say that they do check status when investigating violent crimes. 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. Many residents are too afraid to report crime, even violent crime, including even gang murders, because of the fear of deportation. 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 with 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. 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.
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F
There's always shootings everywhere. This neighborhood, they're always shooting.
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A
So yesterday I heard the shooting, but I thought it was like a normal day. The neighbors were also said to have been here illegally. And the killer was a Mexican national who'd been deported from the United States on four separate occasions from 2009 to 2016.
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B
Right, I remember that story. So if this is a known hotbed of illegal immigration, why isn't there an ICE presence?
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A
That's a great question. I spoke with Todd Bensman and here's what he had to say about that.
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G
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. They don't like to reveal and have big revelations about pockets of illegal immigrants living in the country. 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.
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B
Interesting. So who is behind this development?
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A
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. 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. 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. 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 $100,000 to the governor's campaign in 2018. Her occupation was listed as Colony Ridge Development. 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. He went on to note that, quote, the governor's office will ensure the 2017 law the governor signed banning sanctuary cities is upheld. We've pressed further, asking specifically about the large donations he received from Trey Harris, but we haven't gotten a response yet.
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B
All right, so over a million dollars directed to the governor's campaign. What other politicians have received money?
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A
Right. So there are plenty at multiple different levels. Harris also donated the maximum amount to US 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. 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. 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. We also asked the campaign if they would return the donations from the developer, but we haven't received a response yet. Okay, then there's also State Representative Ernest Bales. He represents the district where Colony Root 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 Coat and Rose. That's a law firm that Trey Harris pays for lobbying services. Bales also got another $9,000 from the pack 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. A cross reference of obituaries reveals that Bales and Ellis are cousins. Bales has yet to respond to our requests for comment.
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B
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?
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A
Yes, there's at least one. U.S. representative Brian Babin represents Texas's 36th congressional district, which borders Colony. Rid Babin has been the most outspoken, and it's also worth noting that he has not received any donations from Trey Harris. 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.
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H
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. It looks like they've got another very large area being clear cut.
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A
Representative Babin also warned that the development could be allowing for cartel activity in the area.
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H
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 bunk houses, even guard towers. The word is that the cartels are playing a role in this area.
- [18:39]
B
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. Is this operation legal?
- [18:49]
A
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's legal. 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.
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B
So this is all happening just outside of Houston. Is this kind of operation unique or is it being replicated in other places?
- [19:32]
A
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. He says that similar enclaves of new immigrants are popping up around the country, with Colony Ridge being the largest and most established. We do know that Trey Harris is continuing to purchase more land, and it's suspected that other developers and border states may take advantage of a similar economic Niche. 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.
- [20:09]
F
These things are happening everywhere. You're seeding the entire country with these different population centers. They have no idea of the American founding, of American founding principles. They haven't taken any training in what it is to be in America, what your obligations are as an American, what's the American way of life all about.
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A
Waller also warned that pockets like this will be taken advantage of by cartels.
- [20:31]
F
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? So this is going to be a cartel land near Houston and at risk of being a no go zone 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.
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B
What about its impact on the people in the area? How has this affected the neighboring town of Plum Grove, for example?
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A
Well, it's really been devastating. Colony Ridge is extremely unpopular in Plum Grove, largely because they claim sewage from substandard plumbing was draining into the local floodplains. For perspective, Plum Grove is a tiny town with just over a thousand residents. It's an understatement to say that its infrastructure has been strained by the growing development. 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. 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.
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B
So what are the lawmakers who are concerned about this doing? Are they taking any action?
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A
Well, right now, not much. Bensman believes that awareness is the first step, and after that, Congress needs to act.
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G
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.
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B
Well, Spencer, thanks so much for digging into this and traveling there to see it yourself. We'll definitely be following up.
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A
Thanks for having me.
- [22:24]
B
That was a report by Spencer Lindquist. First aired back in September 2023 on this show, and this has been a special edition of morningwe.
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E
I'm Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the alliance for Secure AI. We're a coalition of patriotic Americans who want to stop AI from taking our freedoms. Big Tech is propping up AI powered mass surveillance and exploiting our children online. This is not the future we want. The alliance is working hard to ensure that we put Americans first. Join us@secureainow.org to learn more.
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D
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