Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton slammed Colony Ridge on Thursday for enabling illegal alien settlement in the state and bashed public officials who have helped facilitate the development’s growth.
In a letter from Paxton to Republican members of the U.S. Congress who wrote to him last month stating that it was “unthinkable that such an enormous settlement would be allowed to persist in Texas,” Paxton details what his office has found out about the development since launching its own inquiry.
“The development appears to be attracting and enabling illegal alien settlement in the state of Texas and distressing neighboring cities and school districts,” Paxton’s letter reads. “This form of real estate development and financing has created an attractive opportunity for noncitizens to cross the border and settle in Texas.”
The letter addresses the development’s impact on those in the surrounding area, remarking that “complaints from nearby communities about the development’s scale of growth and unmanageable externalities reveal that this unincorporated settlement has drawn far too many people and enabled far too much chaos for the current arrangement to be tolerated by the state.”
But Paxton’s letter also charged that at least two state lawmakers — Senator Robert Nichols and Representative Ernest Bailes — boosted Colony Ridge through “a specific arrangement” that allowed it to “act virtually as its own city.” The Daily Wire reported last month that Bailes received large political contributions from Colony Ridge developer William “Trey” Harris.
Paxton went on to say that he is “beyond disappointed” in the two elected officials for “apparently working to enrich specific developers at enormous expense to the rest of the public and reducing the quality of life for their own constituents” before also noting that “journalists and politicians alike” have downplayed the problem of Colony Ridge.
Paxton’s letter also warns that what’s happening at Colony Ridge might not be an isolated incident. “Texas has seen a growing trend of real estate developers buying huge quantities of undeveloped land, creating primitive subdivisions, and selling the bare lots in a practice often paired with offering minimal- down-payment, high-interest owner-financed loans.” It goes on to read “These loans require little identity verification.”
The letter comes after The Daily Wire’s investigation into Colony Ridge, which prompted reactions from state and federal lawmakers. Legislation to address Colony Ridge has since been placed on the special legislative session schedule by Governor Greg Abbott.