Texas Gov. Abbott wages immigration operation in community targeted by conservatives

Texas state police and local law enforcement converged on a predominantly Latino community near Houston on Monday for what Gov. Gregg Abbott said was an immigration enforcement operation.

The operation was focused on Colony Ridge, a group of unincorporated subdivisions northeast of Houston that has been targeted by GOP media and right-wing activists who have pushed unsubstantiated claims that the overwhelmingly Republican area has become a magnet for immigrants and that it is under the control of cartels.

“Colony Ridge is being targeted today,” Abbott said in a post on X. He said Texas’ Department of Public Safety and special agents assisted Homeland Security Investigations in the housing development.

“They are targeting criminals & illegal immigrants. I have worked with Tom Homan on this for months,” Abbott said in his post, referring to President Donald Trump’s border czar.

NBC News' request to Texas DPS for information on how many people were detained or arrested and whether the apprehensions were immigration related was referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Members of FIEL Houston, an immigrant-led civil rights group, posted live video on Facebook of members driving around the streets of Colony Ridge and warning people not to open their doors and to stay silent if detained.

Along with Texas DPS and unmarked vehicles, the FIEL members said Liberty County sheriff’s cars were also in the area.

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“¡No firme nada! Don’t sign anything! No hables! (Don't talk!),” one of the FIEL members yelled out the window in English and Spanish while passing a Liberty County constable car, a DPS SUV, three law enforcement personnel, a pickup truck and a man who was standing next to a white van with ladders attached to its roof, all pulled over on a roadway.

Alain Cisneros, a spokesman for FIEL Houston, told NBC News that streets had been blocked in the morning and that there were many DPS vehicles and personnel in the city, pulling people over.

“They are pulling over people left and right,” one of the FIEL Houston members said during the live Facebook broadcast. “If you don’t have a license, we don’t recommend you driving right now.”

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Cisneros said the officers had pulled over some trucks with workers heading to their jobs, many in construction.

He said FIEL members in Cleveland, Texas, had not seen any children picked up but that the local school had been blocked off.

At one point, as the FIEL Houston members were driving, one advised the other to remain calm if they were stopped.

In 2023, right-wing media and conservatives tagged Colony Ridge as a "no-go" zone for law enforcement, a haven for people illegally in the U.S. and a hub for cartel activity.

Law enforcement agencies disagreed with the narrative pushed by conservative media. Little legislative action resulted after Abbott made the claims part of the brief agenda of a special legislative session.

Abbott has been waging his own multibillion immigration enforcement operation, Operation Lone Star, for years and using Texas DPS troopers to enforce state laws against trespassing and illegal entry. He has been seeking reimbursement from the federal government for $11 billion that the state has spent on the operation.

The Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under then-President Joe Biden filed a lawsuit against the subdivision's developer alleging that he had targeted Hispanics with predatory loans, false advertising and subpar housing as part of an illegal land scheme.

The developer denied the allegations and said it had made loans to people who could not get loans elsewhere.