The Colony Ridge Community situated in Liberty County, just northeast of Houston, has long been under the microscope. The site has become a refuge for illegal aliens, with thousands of them residing there now, able to buy homes with shady loans and are restricted by virtually zero law enforcement. It is essentially a lawless, third-world country. The Texas Rangers have been investigating the development for a year, and the government even brought a lawsuit against the project.
But a year into an investigation, no real action or consequences have been dealt. Any challenges against the developer just seem to disappear and now, the federal lawsuit against the developer has been quashed. The Feds and Colony Ridge settled their predatory lending lawsuit, which accused the developer of duping Latino homebuyers into seller-financed mortgages, a scheme that raked in money for Colony Ridge.
Now with no real roadblocks in their way, the community continues to grow at a rapid pace. Former District 9 Congressman Steve Stockman says all of these vanishing hurdles are questionable, to say the least, and it start with backroom politician dealings.
"A lot of the developers at Colony Ridge have dished out a lot of political contributions...I would suggest maybe we should investigate that," he says.
The details of that settlement have not been made clear and neither side has commented on the suit. Which just adds fuel to the fire of the idea that there are some shady dealings.
The community has brought rampant crime, and while it is rural, it is crime, nonetheless. Just two years in the area, an illegal alien living there shot and killed his neighbors, before taking police on a manhunt that ended with three arrests.
Beyond that, it affects the people of Liberty County, and worse yet, they have no real say in the matter.
"The people there are now saddled with decisions made by people who do not live in the county...we need to be more sensitive to the locals and help them out, stopping the flood of illegal immigrants and the people who assist that," says Stockman.
The people of the county have had virtually no say in the development, how it should be run, or even if it should be allowed. Most are sick of it, but noting is being done.
Until someone grows a backbone and does something, the community will continue growing and putting a strain on the people.
"Thise poor people who live there...they are now responsible for the infrastructure you need when you dump that many people, some say it is going to grow over 100,000 people...they do not have the infrastructure for that," Stockman says.
He adds someone needs to step up and pause any further development to allow the county to catch up.
Instead, all we will get is a "we're trying" speech from politicians, with no true action ever being taken. Until they do, Liberty County is going to be paying the bill.
Photo: alfexe / iStock / Getty Images
