Photo from Splendora Police Department
Texas state authorities arrested an illegal immigrant murder suspect who had been living in Colony Ridge, the sprawling land development just north of Houston that has become infamous for legally suspect financial and marketing tactics that seek to attract illegal immigrants.
The Splendora Police Department announced the June 7 arrest of Juan Jose Valero Cruz over murder charges in Mexico in a post on Facebook, making him the second illegal immigrant murder suspect and Colony Ridge murder suspect apprehended by authorities in just the last two weeks.
“Splendora Police Department’s Criminal Interdiction Unit, in coordination with Federal Law Enforcement Partners, successfully apprehended another fugitive murder suspect wanted by Interpol,” the post explains. “The suspect, who had been illegally residing in our state and country, was known to travel between the City and his residence in Terrenos,” another name used for Colony Ridge.
“Mr. Cruz is no stranger to being deported as this will be his third time,” the Splendora Police Department went on to add. “Cruz was taken into custody to face Murder charges in Mexico.”
The arrest of Cruz comes just after the Splendora Police and agents with the Department of Homeland Security arrested Leo Acosta Sanchez, an illegal immigrant who entered the United States in August 2023 from Mexico and was also residing in Colony Ridge. The police stated that Sanchez was a “fugitive murder suspect” wanted by the international police and “had been illegally residing in our state and country.”
The development came under additional scrutiny late last year after a teen was allegedly abducted at gunpoint inside Colony Ridge and was shot at as he fled his captors. After a special legislative session last Fall, Texas directed state law enforcement to step up its presence in the area to combat the violence that plagued the community.
Colony Ridge has been the subject of a series of Daily Wire investigations detailing the development’s alleged marketing to illegal immigrants. Led by brothers John and Trey Harris, Colony Ridge encourages potential buyers to “own land in the United States” and accepts foreign passports as a form of identification when offering loans.
The arrests of Cruz and Sanchez and the population explosion experienced by Colony Ridge come as the country has faced the worst border crisis in its history. Officials have so far recorded over 9.5 million nationwide encounters and 1.7 million estimated illegal immigrant gotaways during Biden’s term.
Splendora is a Texas town of less than 2,000 and is one of the many small towns that’s been severely affected by the growth of the Colony Ridge development, which is projected to have anywhere from 45,000 to 75,000 residents, though official figures are not available.
The development has now come under serious legal scrutiny and faces lawsuits from the Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who told The Daily Wire that “literally every sale” made by Colony Ridge could have been in violation of consumer financial protection law.
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