Plum Grove is a small town located in Liberty County, Texas, where an undocumented immigrant settlement is expanding which worries locals. Colony Ridge currently has 60 square miles and a population estimated at between 50,000 and 75,000 people, a number that is expected to grow soon thanks to real estate developer William Trey Harris.
Half-built homes, dilapidated vehicles, streets without asphalt, stray dogs and a sprawling maze of roundabouts, that's what a top-down view of this settlement revealed, something that could resemble in essence the famous Brazilian favelas.
According to reports, population growth comes hand in hand with undocumented immigrants buying land at a very low price and with flexible requirements.
For example, according to statements by Todd Bensman, a Homeland Security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, Colony Ridge buyers can circumvent the usual requirements to buy a property, even without having a social security number.
Part 2. Welcome to the largest illegal immigrant no-go sanctuary city in America. Colony Ridge in Liberty County Texas from an airplane today. Vast expansion clearing underway not pictured, w/ @Michael_Yon pic.twitter.com/whJ0ob55M2
— Todd Bensman (@BensmanTodd) June 14, 2023
"Because with a traditional bank loan you need to be able to show that you have a credit rating and proof of income," Bensman told the media. The loan, sometimes a few hundred dollars, "is directly from the developer, bypassing traditional mortgages," he added.
The offer is as follows: $65,000 for two adjacent plots, plus the buyer's responsibility to build whatever they want on their plot. With thousands of undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border, business is flourishing. According to Bensman, the city "is in the midst of perhaps the biggest boom in its history."
"When people buy here, they are buying the peace of mind of the authorities"
Although Harris did not respond directly to The Daily Wire's request for comment, an article was published with his views on the settlement. He says there is nothing illegal about non-citizens buying land in Texas and that developers are not required to verify their immigration status, since that task falls on Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In turn, he admitted that the purchase requirements are flexible to the situation of his customers. "Depending on the application, customers provide Social Security numbers, ITINs, Texas driver's licenses, state IDs, passports and other forms of identification," he explained.
However, the danger that locals see with the growth of the settlement is that it is an attraction for undocumented immigrants who do not feel like legalizing their status. "There’s very thin law enforcement presence in that area. It’s appealing because they plan to live and work illegally. That means that they probably have to break a whole lot of different kinds of laws in order to buy vehicles and drive the vehicles and maybe show documents to potential employers. When people buy here, they’re buying peace of mind from law enforcement," Bensman added.
“The Mexican cartels are very active in that they run safe houses, they run drugs, they do marijuana grows, they commit crimes,” Bensman explained, citing conversations with police. “This is a homeland security and public safety issue.”
The Daily Wire https://t.co/hgn7QgaRtc
— Todd Bensman (@BensmanTodd) September 17, 2023
In dialogue with The Daily Wire, members of the County Sheriff's Office said that verifying the legal status of each resident of Colony Ridge is almost impossible, since "it would take forever." Therefore, only those suspected of having committed a crime will be checked.
Concern about the power of cartels in Colony Ridge
Brian Babin, a local congressman, told The Daily Wire that, according to comments in the area, "the cartels are playing a role in this area," a concern Bensman shares.
As he wrote in his book, "Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History," the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels invested early on in Colony Ridge properties, with the goal of establishing safe havens to facilitate human and drug smuggling operations.
"The Mexican cartels are very active in that they run safe houses, they run drugs, they do marijuana grows, they commit crimes. This is a homeland security issue. It’s a public safety issue," he added.
This began to translate into specific acts of insecurity, such as the discovery of a 16-year-old killed in a ditch in the city, the murder of five neighbors earlier this year and the killing of a mother of five who was married to a high-ranking member of the Mexican cartel.
The GOP as an accomplice of Colony Ridge?
Chris Russo, president of Texans for Strong Borders, hinted to The Daily Wire that there might be some complicity on the part of the local GOP. For example, relying on public data, he said that Greg Abbott, Republican Governor of Texas, received $1.4 million in political contributions from Trey Harris. His wife, Celeste Harris, contributed $100,000 to the governor's campaign.
The businessman's contributions were not limited only to Abbott, he did the same with state legislators such as Morgan Luttrell, Briscoe Cain and Ernest Bailes.
"This is simply symptomatic of the destruction of our country."
J. Michael Waller, senior strategy analyst at the Center for Security Policy, isn't too happy with Colony Ridge's progress. According to his analysis, these types of settlements will change the United States.
"They have no idea about the American foundation, the founding principles of America, they haven't received any training about what it means to be an American or what the American way of life means. This is simply symptomatic of the destruction of our country," he said.
