AUSTIN – Today the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the paper Broken Borders, Local Impact: Liberty County, Texas.

“Home to the fastest-growing Hispanic population in the United States, along with one of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas, what is happening today in Liberty County, Texas is a stark example of how decades of deficient border security invariably have negative consequences,” said Ken Oliver, author of the study and senior director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Right on Immigration initiative.

Liberty County and especially residents of the Cleveland Independent School District are experiencing a massive transformation as the result of the rapid addition of tens of thousands of new residents in six new master-planned communities known as Houston El Norte. A significant number of these new residents are not lawfully present in the United States.

Even by conservative estimates, Oliver found, the number of Houston El Norte residents without authorization to be in the country is currently in the thousands and is headed toward the tens of thousands.

“Given the magnitude of this emerging population center, it is clear this area urgently needs stepped-up immigration law enforcement and cooperation at the local, state and federal levels,” Oliver said.

Key Points:

  • The problem of illegal immigration significantly exacerbates fiscal and population growth pressures faced by Liberty County and the Cleveland Independent School District.
  • The number of Houston El Norte residents who are unlawfully present in the United States is now in the thousands and is headed toward the tens of thousands.
  • In order to mitigate the negative impact of a growing population of illegal aliens, county, state, and federal authorities need to step up their cooperation in immigration law-enforcement efforts, particularly in ICE’s 287(g) and Warrant Service Officer programs.
  • Regardless of their legal status, the vast majority of property owners in Houston El Norte are productive contributors to the region’s economy. They are embracing the values of homeownership and individual responsibility. As newly minted property taxpayers, it is also likely that they will be inclined to favor lower tax burdens across the whole of government.

To read the paper in full, please visit:

https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Oliver-Broken-Border-Local-Impact-Liberty.pdf