Colony Ridge Roundup Gives Gov Diversion
from Measles Death, Lotto and CPAC Snub
Capitol Inside
February 26, 2025
Governor Greg Abbott's attempt to share credit for a federal immigration raid at the Colony Ridge community near Houston
comes at a time when he appears desperate for distractions in the midst of a deadly measles outbreak that he'd refused to acknowledge despite the potential for a nationwide spread.
Abbott entered the week on a low note after a last-place finish with 0 percent support during the weekend in a CPAC poll on the fight for the GOP nomination in 2028 presidential race. The Texas governor was the only one of 13 Republicans who failed to receive a single vote in the CPAC survey.
Abbott was compelled on Monday to order a formal investigation into a couple of major state lottery jackpots after Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick conducted a solo probe into the most recent that paid almost $84 million on a ticket that was purchased online through a courier service. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a simultaneous investigation of his own into the lottery on Wednesday with unsubstantiated claims on people who aren't U.S. citizens corrupted the state-run game of chance.
“I’m deeply concerned about the integrity of our state’s lottery system, especially when it appears that non-citizens have shown that they are attempting to rig the system to win on demand,” Paxton said. “Texas citizens deserve far better than bad actors getting rich off of a lottery system that is open to exploitation, and we will hold anyone who engages in illegal activity accountable.”
None of the top leaders here have offered any evidence of actual criminal actions with the lotto in a state where the courier services were allowed to operate until the Texas Lottery Commission that Abbott controls banned them on Monday through an administrative order. The Texas Senate approved a bill that would have accomplished that in 2023 with only two dissenting votes. The legislation died in the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee without a hearing or vote.
Abbott faces a replay of a territorial hijacking that Patrick pulled off in 2021 when he pressured all of the governor's appointees to the Public Utility Commission into resigning in the aftermath of a record freeze that left millions of Texans without power, heat or water for most of a week. The governor failed to come to the commissioners' defense while allowing Patrick to effectively take over the PUC temporarily for the overhaul.
Abbott's silence has been deafening on the worst spread of measles in Texas in three decades as a direct result of parents refusing to have children vaccinated. The Texas Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday that a "school-aged child" who hadn't been vaccinated died at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock after being hospitalized with the disease last week.
But the Associated Press reported that the Texas governor had not responded to a request for a comment on Lubbock case as the first measles death in the U.S. in the past 10 years.
Abbott struggled mightily in the early stages of the Covid pandemic five years ago. After imposing historic restrictions including business closures and a state mask mandate, the governor caved to intense criticism from the far right and sought to prohibit the same basic actions that he'd taken here while trying to contain the spread based on medical expertise and science.
But Abbott and other elected Republicans in Austin have tried to cater to right-wing groups like the Texans for Vaccine Choice. The governor may be hoping now that he can sustain a disappearing act on the measles until the outbreak subsides to keep from being blamed for it.
While ignoring the growing threat to public health in the Lone Star State, Abbott has tried to capitalize on a sweep that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted on Monday at Colony Ridge with assistance from Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. The governor claimed that he'd helped plot the raid with President Donald Trump's border czar.
"They are targeting criminals & illegal immigrants," Abbott said on X. "I have worked with Tom Homan on this for months." Homan has been on the job for five weeks.
ICE said in a tweet on Tuesday that its agents arrested 118 people at Colony Ridge based on current charges or convictions in the past for a litany of offenses including "criminal sexual conduct, homicide, theft, negligent manslaughter, child sexual abuse, crimes of moral turpitude, weapons offenses and drug offenses."
It was unclear why law enforcement officers would arrest residents for crimes that have already been adjudicated.
ICE agents would have had to witness crimes after they arrived unless they were acting on warrants that were still outstanding. But the federal agency only revealed the name and details for one of the Colony Ridge arrests while maintaining a veil of secrecy up to now for the others.
Federal agents and state police were reportedly detaining people at traffic stops and retail shops in what appears to be a classic "show me your papers" operation that many Republicans here have claimed to be against. ICE gave no hint, however, whether some or all of the people who were arrested at Colony Ridge may have been U.S. citizens.
Colony Ridge has been an albatross for the Texas governor as a subdivision that was developed by William Trey Harris, who contributed at least $1.4 million to Abbott between 2018 and 2022. Abbott looked the other way until he added Colony Ridge to a special session agenda in the fall of 2023. Abbott appeared to be spooked at the time by right-wing social media conspiracies on the development as a drug cartel and human smuggling hub.
But the governor offered no protests when Texas legislators showed no interest in the issue beyond a House hearing that made Colony Ridge appear more like a typical low-income neighborhood with a predictable amount of crime and an ongoing need for more police.
more to come ... | 
