Everything Republicans Said About Colony Ridge Was A Lie
Colony Ridge is no more than Jade Helm 2.0. A lie started from a hate group and ended up as political hype.
As part of their xenophobic perpetuation toward asylum seekers, if you’ve listened to anything Republicans have said in the last few months, you might have heard about Colony Ridge. Right-wing media and GOP politicians have been shouting about the “undocumented safe haven” in Liberty County known as Colony Ridge.
During the last few months, I’ve read all the right-wing articles and watched all the alt-right YouTube videos. None points to evidence or proof that undocumented people are headed for Colony Ridge to set up cartel operations. When I’ve asked Republicans on social media for proof, they’ve only shown me the same articles and videos that make accusations without evidence. But I’ve held off commenting until there was a legislative hearing on the topic. That happened yesterday.
You can see the entire hearing here (it’s about two hours long):
Witnesses included the developers of this subdivision, the local sheriff, Liberty County Judge, DPS Director Steve McGraw, and representatives from the TEQ.
Here are some things that we learned from the hearing:
Crime is lower in Colony Ridge than in Travis County.
Cartel and gang members live in Colony Ridge and are under federal surveillance, just like cartel and gang members live all across Texas. Law Enforcement is only aware of this because of the federal surveillance and has not caught said cartel members breaking any laws.
Liberty County is also home to a chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood.
The Sheriff said their biggest troublemakers (legally) were teenagers, which is no different than any other small town in Texas.
The land developers followed all state, local, and federal laws in developing and selling this land.
People who have bought land and moved into Colony Ridge have typically been lower income or credit and would not have been able to purchase a home through traditional means.
Law enforcement is understaffed in the area, just as law enforcement is understaffed in most counties in Texas.
Everything Republicans have claimed about Colony Ridge being an “illegal magnet” has been a lie.
“Why are we even here doing this?” Representative Jay Dean asked at one point.
The House members on the committee listened to all of the witnesses and asked appropriate questions and none of them seemed to understand why they were having the hearing. There is no real problem, and therefore, there is no legislative fix.
The taxpayers paid for this hearing all based on right-wing lies and fear propaganda meant to scare nice, old, white GOP Boomers over Mexicans.
Earlier this week, the Texas Observer published “What’s Behind the Fact-Challenged Freak-Out Over Colony Ridge.” They compared the GOP’s obsession with Jade Helm. I agree with that assessment.
For those of y’all who don’t remember or weren’t around back in 2015, the far-right in Texas became obsessed with a military operation under Obama called Jade Helm. GOP voters around the state believed that Obama would kidnap them and transport them in Bluebell trucks to shuttered Walmarts, where they would be forced to convert their religions to Islam.
Of course, we made fun of them. To their faces and online. And as they do, we were met with accusations of how we were blind and stupid. Even Greg Abbott believed it. He called up the State Guard to be ready to fight the American military to protect Texans from being forced to become Muslim.
Greg Abbott later said it was a Russian disinformation campaign and he was a victim of propaganda. Although, back then, I only remember hearing from politicians and cooky elderly relatives about the threat of Jade Helm.
Colony Ridge is Jade Helm 2.0.
The map above is Liberty County. Colony Ridge is where the red circle is (ish). Noticed the two cities highlighted are Plum Grove and Cleveland. This is important. We’ll get back to that.
Here’s a closer view of the area.
The Texas Observer said it best when they said Colony Ridge is something “depicted in right-wing media. In this alternate reality, the area is a crime-ridden, poverty-stricken settlement of illegal aliens that, in the words of the Daily Wire, “could become a strategic asset for [drug] cartels.” It’s a Brazilian-style favela of shanties and trash and feral dogs that has somehow been hidden from the world for more than a decade. It’s a “magnet” for all the “invaders” streaming across Joe Biden’s open borders.”
The Texas Observer article is worth the read as it tells the tale of how the propaganda campaign of Colony Ridge got started.
Long story short, an organization listed as a hate group with the SPLC published an article titled, “Texas Massacre Happened in America’s Largest Illegal Immigrant ‘Colonia’ — and Major U.S. Media Won’t Say So.”
You may remember earlier this year, a man in Cleveland shot and killed five of his neighbors, including a 9-year-old boy. Greg Abbott faced criticism after calling the victims “illegal immigrants.” He had no proof of that, and it was later determined at least one of the victims, if not all, were here in Texas legally. Later, Abbott retracted his statement and gave an apology. But the damage was done.
First of all, the incident happened in Cleveland, not Colony Ridge (see map above).
Secondly, the Republican base never sees/hears, or believes retractions or fact-checking.
So, this lie that started from a hate group has been repeated by the base, right-wing media, and politicians. That’s why the House Committee on State Affairs held a hearing yesterday.
During the hearing, Ken Paxton put out a (lengthy) statement regarding Colony Ridge.
He planned this out because he believed the propaganda from the right about this development. Paxton is supposed to be the top attorney in our state, yet he believes in conspiracies without evidence. This should be concerning to every Texan.
Paxton’s letter discusses how violent crime, drug trafficking, environmental deterioration, public disturbances, infrastructure overuse, and other problems have plagued the area.
He blamed Republican Representative Earnest Bailes and Republican Senator Robert Nichols for creating a Municipal Management District, leading to these problems. It’s important to note Bailes voted to impeach Ken Paxton, and Nichols voted guilty on his indictment. Paxton had previously pledged revenge.
One amazing moment happened when Representative Chris Turner fact-checked the Attorney General in real-time. Within minutes of Paxton’s letter release, Turner asked the developer if the things Paxton wrote were true. They were not.
You can see that fantastic moment here:
It was clear that Paxton wrote this letter before the hearing and wasn’t watching as it was going on. Because if he were, he would know how stupid his letter looked.
Remember, Tim Dunn funded Ken Paxton and paid Dan Patrick $3 million to acquit Paxton. Dunn also finances the Texas Scorecard. The publisher of the Texas Scorecard is Michael Quinn Sullivan, who used to lead Empower Texas, which Dunn also funded.
Two things have happened since this hearing.
Dunn’s organization is not talking about how the Legislative hearing proved everything about Colony Ridge was bullshit.
Dunn’s organization is pretending that all the bullshit is real and blaming two legislators for it.
The Texas Scorecard has focused on Paxton’s letter and presented it as true.
And the Texas GOP bot accounts have followed in line.
In turn, this organization and the people funded by Tim Dunn continue to perpetuate this lie about Colony Ridge, which is racist and xenophobic. Why?
It scares GOP voters and expands on the great replacement theory myth. This helps them ensure Republican voters go to the polls and vote for their agenda. It helps Republican politicians and hurts Biden. Perhaps that is what all of this is about in the first place.
We need adults in the room.
The fact that our leaders and the most influential people in Texas cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction is alarming. How can we trust people who spread conspiracies without evidence to govern and lead this state?
Here are just some of the Republicans who have spread the narrative about Colony Ridge:
Greg Abbott
Dan Patrick
Ken Paxton
Representative Nate Schatzline
Representative Brian Harrison
Representative Tony Tinderholt
Representative Steve Toth
Doesn’t it always seem to be the same cast of characters? Remember that. Vote.