CLEVELAND — Marisol knows many parents in Colony Ridge are anxious about deportations and are fearful of law enforcement since President Donald Trump assumed office for a second time last week. The 28-year-old mother recently broke down recalling a question her second-grade son asked her.
“He asked me, ‘Why doesn’t Donald Trump like Hispanic people?’ I don’t have answers for that,” Marisol said, her voice breaking as she sat in the pickup line Monday outside Cottonwood Elementary.
During the first week of the second Trump presidency, residents of Colony Ridge, the predominantly Latino housing development about 40 miles northeast of Houston, have increasingly been on edge.
Images and videos showing law enforcement officers seemingly engaged in immigration enforcement have inundated Facebook groups, fueling fears that a larger crackdown might be underway, despite few confirmed cases of immigration arrests in the area.
“BE CAREFUL!! !! !! Immigration (ICE) is in Colony Ridge next to Cottonwood [Elementary] in Santa Fe 1,” one commenter posted in Spanish alongside a video of several unmarked, black SUVs parked next to the elementary school.
Those fears were amplified on Monday when county sheriff’s deputies pulled over a Cleveland Independent School District school bus. While the school district later clarified in a statement to The Landing that two students were arrested due to a disciplinary issue, a video of the traffic stop quickly spread among local Facebook groups.
“In the Facebook groups, people … see police officers, and they’re like, ‘Oh, ICE is right there.’ Well, they’re scared, so of course, they say, ‘I’ve seen them,’ even though sometimes it’s just the police officer may be doing their job,” said Marisol, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The mother of two asked to be identified by her first name only, fearing reprisals against her family.
‘We’re not doing sweeps,’ ICE official says
Colony Ridge spans 33,000 acres and is home to tens of thousands of residents, many of whom, according to county officials, are living in the country illegally or lack permanent status. For much of the past two years, the decade-old development has been framed by some Texas Republicans and conservative media as a symbol of unchecked immigration.
Trump has vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and many fear that Colony Ridge could be a key target. Since last week’s inauguration, the lack of concrete information, coupled with scattered reports of immigration enforcement activity, has only intensified those anxieties.
On Friday, the county’s flagship newspaper, the Liberty Vindicator, reported that an ICE “sweep” had resulted in the arrests of “a large number of people with felony warrants suspected of being in the country illegally,” though it did not disclose the source of the information.
On Sunday, federal agencies conducted immigration enforcement operations in several Texas cities, including Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. However, federal officials provided few details about the scale of the operations.
In Houston, the Enforcement Removal Operations division of ICE announced that it had conducted “enhanced targeted operations” in coordination with officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security. The language mirrored that used by ICE in a previous announcement about weekend immigration crackdowns in Chicago, which, like Houston, has a significant immigrant population.
A Houston ICE official told The Landing that the “enhanced target operations” conducted over the weekend were routine and not part of a new initiative or directive from the Trump administration.
“We’re not doing sweeps or anything like that,” the official said.
The official declined to specify how many people were taken into custody but stated that all had been subject to a final order of deportation or removal. When asked whether any immigration enforcement actions had occurred in Colony Ridge, the official referred the question to the agency’s main office, which did not respond to requests for comment.
The exact number of people taken into custody in Colony Ridge in recent days for immigration-related offenses remained unclear on Monday. County Judge Jay Knight said he was aware of one arrest but had not been briefed by federal officials about their actions.
“They didn’t enlighten me on anything. I was just as surprised as anybody else that that transpired,” he said.
Several recent photos and videos circulating on private Facebook groups appear to show local law enforcement assisting federal immigration agents.
William Knox, chief deputy of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, said he believed the recent arrests were routine ICE operations that had garnered more attention due to growing concerns over possible raids.
“The feds have been doing warrant arrests for years up there. They aren’t doing anything new — it’s what they have always done,” he said.
A community on edge
While last weekend’s arrests may have been routine according to law enforcement officials, interviews with Colony Ridge residents reveal a community on edge, increasingly fearful of being caught up in any immigration crackdown. Some are staying home, and local businesses are already feeling the impact.
Susana Cazares, owner of Leo’s Beer Barn, located on the corner of County Road 5000 in the Montebello subdivision, said business has dropped 30 percent in the past few days. She attributes the decline to residents’ fears of detention and the need to prepare financially for potential immigration proceedings.
‘The people who we talk to say that they need to spend the least money possible to have money saved for whatever could happen,” Cazares said.
Irina Concepcion has heard the rumors of raids across Colony Ridge. While she isn’t personally concerned for her family due to their legal status, she worries about the broader impact on the community.
“I work at Home Depot,” Concepcion said. “And I don’t know if it has to do with this or not, but there’s been significantly less customers than normal. A lot of Hispanics go there and there’s been a lot less.”
Nora, a mother of three, said the rumors of potential large-scale immigration raids have heightened her anxiety about her family’s safety, given their mixed immigration status.
“My husband is the one that works outside the home every day and we are always worried about something happening,” she said.
The move to Colony Ridge from Mexico about a year ago meant owning a home, but it also meant leaving behind a close-knit circle of friends and family.
“We don’t yet have trusted neighbors or anyone we know that would help us with the kids in case something happens,” said Nora, who requested that she be identified by her first name only because of immigration concerns. “So we have fear simply because of our kids.”
In its report, the Vindicator said Cleveland ISD had recently experienced attendance declines, but the school district did not provide Houston Landing with attendance figures.
In a statement responding to questions surrounding the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a policy that had barred federal immigration officials from conducting arrests in sensitive locations like schools and churches, the state’s fastest-growing school district emphasized its commitment to providing a “safe, welcoming and inclusive environment.”
“While specific details of federal enforcement actions remain unclear, the district wants to reassure families that our priority will always be to act in the best interest of students while complying with the law,” the statement read. “We encourage families to communicate openly with the district if they have concerns or need guidance.”
Eddie Conger, superintendent of the International Leadership of Texas, confirmed a slight drop in attendance across the three campuses within Colony Ridge. In an interview, he emphasized that immigration authorities had not visited any of the schools, adding that the charter school district does not collect immigration status information from its students.
“I’m trying to get the information out. People see things and immediately jump to a conclusion that’s fear-based,” Conger said. “We all need to take a deep breath and make sure that we have the information right and then try to just take care of each other.”
Advocates advise immigrants to ‘stay vigilant’
Jennefer Canales-Pelaez, a Houston-based Texas policy attorney and strategist for the immigrant rights nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center, is critical of what she sees as fragmented information from ICE. She described the publicity surrounding recent arrests in Texas cities and across the country as a “dog and pony show.”
“This is just week one. I think that for the next few weeks, we might continue seeing these little spurts of activity jumping up here and there under the guise that they’re only going after the quote-unquote ‘criminals’.”
Canales-Pelaez urged immigrant communities to resist living in fear but to remain vigilant. She advised them to stay aware of ICE activity in their neighborhoods, know their rights if federal officials come to their door, and have a plan in case they are detained. If ICE does not have a warrant, they cannot enter a home or private property, so people are not required to open the door, she said.
“Folks should keep living their lives because this is part of what they want. They want us to live in fear,” Canales-Pelaez said. “So number one, I think it’s important for folks to continue living their lives, but to stay vigilant.”
For now, Marisol plans to keep a low profile. In the five years since she and her family moved to the Sante Fe subdivision of Colony Ridge, life has been relatively peaceful. But since Trump’s election, she says, racist rhetoric has escalated.
“You hear gunshots (in the development), loud music and I guess that’s where the racism comes in and they think every Hispanic is like that,” she said, wiping away tears that had fogged her glasses. “You know, we’re not all like that.”
“Criminals come in all races and colors,” she added. “It’s just difficult.”
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