Colony Ridge, a residential community near Houston that’s been accused of being a safe haven for people in the country without legal status, was the focus of a federal immigration enforcement operation on Monday morning, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott, a Republican, announced that the operation was moving forward with assistance from Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers and special agents. He added that he’s been working with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on the operation “for months.”
“Colony Ridge is being targeted today,” Abbott wrote on social media. He added that the operation targeted “criminals” and people in the country without legal status.
Spokespeople for the governor’s office and the Department of Public Safety both declined a request for further comment. But DPS Sgt. Erik Burse told the Houston Chronicle that the agency’s efforts in Colony Ridge were part of the same operation that they’ve been focusing on for the last two years — enforcing traffic violations and backing up local law enforcement.
Cesar Espinosa, executive director of a Houston-based immigrant advocacy organization called FIEL, argued that police presence had increased throughout the area Monday morning.
At a press conference near a local elementary school, Espinosa said they’ve seen a “huge presence” of DPS officers and added these efforts have had a “chilling effect in the community.”
“There’s something happening,” Espinosa said. “They’re trying to either send a message or there’s an operation going on.”
Espinosa said he’s heard from several community members about arrests being made throughout the community Monday morning. The Texas Newsroom has not been able to verify this information.
Demes Lopez stood by her daughter and watched Espinosa during the press conference. She has been living near Colony Ridge with her three children for the last three years, after having arrived in the U.S. from Honduras about 20 years ago.
She said her children wanted to stay home from school due to the possibility of increased immigration enforcement throughout the community.
“I feel very bad about what is happening,” Lopez said in Spanish. “We are afraid for our children, for our family, for our brothers who are suffering the consequences of the fact that immigration is here.”
In 2023, the 33,000-acre development of Colony Ridge was targeted by conservative media and state officials who said the area had suffered from rampant crime at the hands of cartels and undocumented immigrants — an allegation that both state and local law enforcement officials have refuted.
Later that year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a lawsuit against the developers, arguing that Colony Ridge had participated in “reverse redlining” by targeting predominantly Hispanic consumers with predatory financing.
