CLEVELAND — Federal immigration enforcement and a wave of anxiety on Monday swept through Colony Ridge, the sprawling Liberty County development that has long been the target of Texas Republican leaders and anti-immigration activists.
The Department of Homeland Security, Texas Department of Public Safety and Liberty County Sheriffs Office patrolled, stopped and arrested an unknown number of residents in the majority-Latino residential development about 40 miles northeast of Houston.
In Santa Fe, the development’s largest subdivision, businesses and food trucks normally bustling with activity emptied after fear of federal agents demanding documentation of residents’ citizenship increased. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced later in the morning a joint state and federal operation was “targeting criminals and illegal immigrants” in Colony Ridge.
Colony Ridge was a prominent part of anti-immigrant rhetoric from Abbott and other state officials for much of the 2024 election season. The development also has been targeted by conspiracy theorists alleging it is a hotbed for Mexican drug cartel activity, although both local law enforcement and DPS officials have said that is not the case.
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Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, posts showing law enforcement officers seemingly engaged in immigration enforcement have inundated local Facebook groups, fueling fears that a larger crackdown may be underway, despite few confirmed cases of immigration arrests in the Colony Ridge area. Monday appeared to be the first example of a more organized operation targeting the development.
In his tweet, Abbott wrote that he had worked with Trump Administration “border czar” Tom Homan for months on the operation.
Business visits, traffic stops
An employee of a bakery in the Santa Fe subdivision told the Houston Landing that federal immigration agents arrived around 9 a.m. asking for documents that confirmed employees’ immigration status.
“The person who was in charge said, obviously, we have rights and that we weren’t going to give them that information,” said the woman, who requested anonymity out of a fear of retaliation.
The agents left paperwork asking the bakery’s owner to provide employees’ documentation within three days, but did not arrest anyone, she said.
After the agents departed, “(the workers) could have stayed, but everyone left, scared,” the employee added, noting there was only family left to work the rest of the morning.
Houston Landing reporters witnessed at least two traffic stops by DPS troopers accompanied by law enforcement officers wearing vests that read “POLICE HSI,” which stands for Homeland Security Investigations.
Federal agents did not answer direct questions about whether two men seated inside an unmarked Nissan Titan pickup truck with flashing lights were being detained. The HSI agents referred reporters to Sgt. Erik Burse, a public information officer with DPS.
Reporters witnessed several other traffic stops by state troopers and observed at least two dozen DPS and unmarked law enforcement vehicles patrolling the area.
Homan told the Houston Chronicle Monday afternoon that he was present for the operation.
Details of the scope and scale of the operation, however, remained unclear for much of the day.
Burse downplayed his agency’s involvement, saying it was par for the course for DPS operations for the last two years in Colony Ridge, which began after local law enforcement raised concerns that the rate of the development’s population growth was outstripping its resources.
The agency cannot and will not conduct immigration raids, Burse added.
“We’ve been here for two years. It’s nothing new for what we’re doing,” Burse said. “All of a sudden you get a tweet, and it just blows up.”
Burse directed further questions to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Neither DHS nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to requests for comment.
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Abbott wrote in a later tweet that the operation began “hours” before his first post announcing it shortly after 10 a.m.
‘They’re breaking families’
Aron Thorn, a senior attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the Trump administration uses immigration raids and the increased presence of federal law enforcement in immigrant communities as a fear tactic.
“These raids serve a very specific purpose and that is to instill fear,” he said. “Being a bystander in Colony Ridge can get you sucked into the deportation apparatus.”
Lupita Rangel, 49, was driving home on Highway 99 when she saw seven traffic stops off the highway. As she pulled into the Santa Fe subdivision, she found herself behind a DPS vehicle closely tailing a gray sport utility vehicle.
“When (the SUV) put on the turn signal to turn this way, they stopped him,” Rangel said in Spanish as police lights flashed across the road. “But it was only DPS … after DPS, the grey truck got there, then a white truck, and another. There were three trucks, and they took him out and they handcuffed him.”
The man, who was wearing a red hat, was detained in one of the unmarked trucks, Rangel told the Houston Landing. Reporters witnessed the man in the red cap seated next to an HSI officer inside the Nissan Titan gray pickup.
“I’m mad because, I mean, they’re family. They’re taking family apart. Even though they’re here illegally, they shouldn’t do that,” Rangel said, switching to English and choking back tears. “It makes me want to cry.”
“They’re breaking families,” she said later.
While neither federal or state officials would confirm the number of people detained Monday, the increased law enforcement presence stoked fear throughout the community.
Laura, a mother of five who declined to give her full name out of a fear of retaliation, said she was unable to get her car battery changed because her nearby mechanic shop was closed.
Businesses throughout the area were shuttered. Lots — normally full of residents who normally sell homemade goods out of food trucks and stands — were empty.
“My kids were born here but they say, ‘Mamí we have Hispanic friends (who are not born here) and we don’t want to lose them,’” Laura said.
Cesar Espinosa, founder of the Houston immigrant rights nonprofit Familias Immigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL), and his brother, Abraham Espinosa, also were pulled over by a DPS trooper.
In a video of the interaction posted to Facebook, the trooper said the stop was because of a missing front license plate, even though the car had one. The pair were allowed to leave after a brief conversation in which the trooper initially insisted the car was missing its license plate.
“It was a weird interaction,” Abraham said.
Developer supports enforcement
Outside of immigration concerns, the development is being sued by the Department of Justice and the state of Texas. Owners John and William “Trey” Harris are accused of targeting largely Latino land buyers in what state Attorney General Ken Paxton has called a “bait-and-switch” sales scheme.
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John Harris previously told the Landing the lawsuits were baseless and inflammatory. Through a spokesperson, Harris said he supports Monday’s law enforcement operation.
“We are grateful for the efforts of Governor Abbott, Tom Homan and all those involved in rooting out criminal illegals in Texas,” Harris wrote. “DPS officers have been working in Colony Ridge for more than two years. They know who the bad guys are, so we are fully supportive of these efforts.”
Liberty County leaders were unaware of the operation prior to Abbott’s tweet, County Judge Jay Knight said Monday. Knight added that he was unaware of any local law enforcement assisting with immigration raids.
“Would’ve been nice if the government let us know,” Knight said. “I wasn’t informed about anything. It’s news to me.”
Capt. David Meyers, public information officer with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, said Monday that the agency was not participating in the operation. However, Landing reporters witnessed several sheriff deputies vehicles patrolling the development. Meyers said “higher ups” in the sheriff’s office were given a courtesy call in recent days to inform them of the plans.
The sheriff’s office, along with the Liberty County Precinct 6 Constable, polices Colony Ridge. It does not participate in a federal program that allows local law enforcement to perform federal immigration activities, such as issuing holds on detainees.
It also does not check the immigration status of the people in its jail unless they have been charged with a violent felony. If a detainee is found to be living in the country illegally, jail staff contact ICE, to see if the agency wants to take the incarcerated person into custody for possible deportation.
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Colony Ridge used as political statement
Thorn, the Texas Civil Rights project attorney, said it is not new that the development is being used as a political pawn to magnify anti-immigration rhetoric.
“Colony Ridge itself has been used many, many times to push a point about migration, in general,” he said.
State officials first took an interest in Colony Ridge in 2023, after years of conspiracy theories alleging the development was a hotbed of cartel operations. Both local law enforcement and Department of Public Safety officials have said there is no evidence of that claim.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Legislature to address Colony Ridge during a special session in the fall of 2023, but lawmakers only increased the number of DPS officers patrolling the development.
State officials have been clamoring for immigration raids at the development since November 2023, a year before President Donald Trump was elected.
Republican state Rep. Janis Holt, whose district includes Colony Ridge, posted on Facebook in early January that the development would be a focus of the incoming Trump administration, along with a photo of herself and Homan.
“We will coordinate with his office and attack this issue head on (sic),” Holt wrote at the time.
Monday’s operation was announced through a tweet from Abbott’s X account, where the governor has promised in recent weeks that some sort of immigration operation was imminent.
“Yep. Both the Feds & DPS are working on it,” Abbott tweeted on Jan. 26 when asked if an operation was in the works.