Immigrants find no escape from exploitation
By Stephen Reeves
Migrants from Latin and South America are frequently the victims of exploitation and extortion in their home countries or along their journeys north. Unfortunately it doesn’t get much better for some once they get here. Instead of cartels, they face unjust corporations. Nowhere is there a better microcosm of multifaceted immigrant exploitation than in Colony Ridge.
If you’ve never heard of Colony Ridge I can probably guess your news media of choice.
Beginning in the late summer of 2023 the massive housing development northeast of Houston caused hysteria among right wing media and the most anti-immigrant segments of our population.
According to those reports and numerous politicians (summarized in this excellent Texas Monthly article) Colony Ridge is a crime-ridden, poverty-stricken settlement of illegal aliens, the world’s most dangerous trailer park and a magnet for the invaders streaming across the border. Governor Abbott even claimed on a podcast that it was a “no-go zone” for law enforcement and controlled by drug cartels.
The truth is that Colony Ridge is home to nearly 40,000 folks, the vast majority of whom are Hispanic and Spanish speaking. It is a mix of U.S. Citizens, legal permanent residents, and some here illegally. Most families are blue collar workers. The land is cheap, and the developers lend to folks with low credit scores and no social security number. It's not much different from many other parts of East Texas.
Because of the media hysteria, Gov. Abbott included Colony Ridge in the agendas of the last two Texas Legislature Special Sessions of 2023. Bills were filed, and hearings were held. In those hearings state and local law enforcement officials testified to Colony Ridge’s relatively low crime rate and that officers had no problem patrolling the area. Those facts didn’t stop the legislature from authorizing up to $40 million of taxpayer money for increased patrols and law enforcement in Colony Ridge.
A number of right-wing reporters and conservative politicians visited Colony Ridge and left wondering what the fuss was all about.
While the hysterical claims rooted in racist and xenophobic stereotypes about Hispanics in Colony Ridge proved to be false, it turns out there are big problems there.
Before leading Fellowship Southwest and working daily on immigration advocacy, I worked for over a decade for reform of predatory payday and auto title lending. When I saw a press release from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announcing a suit against the developers of Colony Ridge, my two advocacy worlds collided.
On December 20 the CFPB and the DOJ sued the developers of Colony Ridge for bait-and-switch land sales and predatory financing. According to the CFPB press release, the developer “sells unsuspecting families flood-prone land without water, sewer, or electrical infrastructure, and that the company sets borrowers up to fail with loans they cannot afford.” Attorney General Merrick Garland alleged that Colony Ridge targeted Hispanic consumers and “exploited language barriers by conducting most of its marketing in Spanish while offering important transaction documents only in English.”
According to Director Rohit Chopra, “[The CFPB] investigation uncovered that Colony Ridge is baiting borrowers with lies, saddling families with predatory loans for homesites that the company knows have repeatedly flooded with raw sewage and lacked basic utility infrastructure.”
The complaint alleges that Colony Ridge has “lured tens of thousands of Hispanic consumers into their predatory loan products” and “roughly 1-in-4 Colony Ridge loans ends in foreclosure, after which the company repurchases the properties and sells them to new borrowers.”
Sadly, this is just one of the numerous ways that immigrant communities are exploited.
I’ve heard it said that there are two signs hanging on our border wall - one says “KEEP OUT” and the other says “Help Wanted.” Those fortunate enough to make it to this country often find themselves working grueling and dangerous work for unfair wages. Tragically, according to recent reports by the New York Times, many of those are children.
The residents of Colony Ridge were exploited for political gain by politicians profiting from anti-immigrant hysteria. According to the allegations by the CFPB and DOJ, many were also exploited by predatory loans the developer knew they were unlikely to be able to repay. Immigrant labor is exploited for profit. Migrants are exploited by cartels and coyotes. The Venezuelan family I met in Brownsville last week was exploited by the Mexican police officers who stole all their money as they traveled north.
Comprehensive immigration reform would go a long way to help solve many of these problems. Immigrants with legal status are able to come out of the shadows and are less likely to be taken advantage of. Safer legal pathways for migrants would cut the power of the cartels who prey upon those waiting at our border for asylum and those who decide to pay their way across a more dangerous route. A holistic approach to the humanitarian crisis of migration would provide aid to home countries so that migrants may never be forced to flee in the first place.
While a comprehensive set of policy changes would improve the situation, I’m afraid the real system change we need is deeper than one issue or one piece of legislation. As long as our leaders pay closest attention to those with money and corporate power, greed will be given a seat at the table. As long as it profits politicians to stoke fear, resentment and hate of our neighbors, anti-immigrant policies will earn votes. Until we make policies that prioritize those Jesus taught us to serve - the poor, the marginalized, the stranger, the sick, the widow, the orphan and the hungry, justice will be hard to find.