Fastest Growing Development in the US Markets is to Illegal Immigrants
Did Liberty County Sell Out It's Legal Residents?
You probably won’t believe this headline at first glance, but a land developer in Liberty County has created a subdivision near the small town of Plum Grove that markets predominantly to illegal aliens. Current estimates based on recent sales activity is that 50,000 to 75,000 people live in the Colony Ridge development that’s situated just outside of Houston not far from Cleveland Texas. The current development is spread out over sixty square miles and it’s estimated that it will eventually house over 200,000 residents.
The developer sells plots of land under the name of Terrenos Houston and is the brainchild of owner William “Trey” Harris. How can illegal immigrants purchase property in Texas you might ask? Because they don’t go through traditional bank financing which requires things like social security numbers, credit ratings and proof of income. These loans are made directly by the developer with often times only a few hundred dollars put down as a down payment and the borrowers often pay interest rates as high as 15%.
Mr. Harris appears to market this property exclusively in Spanish and they tell prospective buyers that they can own land in the United States. They target people via Instagram who either not currently living in the United States and who are not currently citizens of the United States. They encourage potential buyers to respond via Whatsapp because potential buyers are able to bypass traditional international calling restrictions and fees. A large number of the development’s employees appear to be foreign nationals who live in Latin American countries.
The plots of land are cheap. The buyer is responsible for constructing a place to live and the plots sell for about $30,000. But there doesn’t appear to be restrictions or rules on the type of structures that can be put on the lots. Aerial views of the development shows a wide mix of trailer houses, wood frame houses, tents, etc. Many of the roads aren’t fully paved and there’s a long list of problems associated with the development. Here’s a sampling of some of the problems:
The developer avoided building floodwater detention ponds by underestimating runoff.
Insufficiently mitigated drainage washed out FM1010.
The developer declared war on wetlands and drained them.
Neighboring Plum Grove sued the developer over flooding, sewage leaks, and street damage.
TCEQ launched more than a dozen investigations into construction practices and sewage leaks.
Surrounding volunteer fire departments battle blazes without the help of fire hydrants in most areas…or financial support.
Rivers of mud continue to flow out of drainage ditches with big rains because the developer flaunted construction regulations for them.
There is very little law enforcement in the area which has struggled to keep up with the exploding population and the sheriffs office has expressed concerns about cartel activity in the area.
“This subdivision is dangerous,” said an unidentified representative of the sheriffs office. “We don’t have enough officers to handle the growth and there’s already a high amount of violent crime coming directly from this development.”
How is it possible Liberty County officials allow a development like this to occur you might ask? Surrounding communities of legal residents have paid a huge price with with problems associated with Colony Ridge given the massive problems with drainage, flooding, erosion, etc. There have been a series of allegations that Trey Harris has become awful cozy with Liberty County government officials and it should be noted that according to campaign records, Trey Harris has contributed over $1.4 million to Governor Greg Abbott in campaign contributions.
Harris has gone on record saying that there’s nothing illegal about noncitizens buying land in the united states and that property developers are not legally required to check immigration status - that’s on the federal government.
How is it possible that knowing what’s going on with this Colony Ridge Development that Liberty County officials and State Government officials are letting this continue? Governor Abbott likes to make a headline just about everyday of sending busloads of illegals to other states which most Texans fully support. But knowing that there’s a growing city of illegals building just outside of Houston and knowing that the developer is marketing to illegal immigrants exacerbating our migration problem, why hasn’t the governor done something to stop this? Why isn’t a full blown investigation currently underway to understand how Liberty County government officials allowed this to happen?