Austin Scallan

Scallan 1

Professor Albro Ward

POL 1133
Due 20 March 2015

The Texan Dream

As class of local high school seniors eagerly walk out on stage as the last chapter of
childhood comes to a close. In the plethora of excitement, one senior lets out a stream of
emotion. Unlike her classmates, this girls parents escaped political turmoil of her native Latin
American country. Working low wages and with multiple siblings, college should be financially
out of the question. Should. Instead of entering the workforce, she will be the first of her family
to attend college.
Since its ratification in 2001, The Texas Dream Act has made this Texan dream
attainable to countless undocumented students that, like in the scenario above, could never go to
college via legal means. Life in the United States is already difficult enough for undocumented
immigrants. Most of these immigrants came to the United States because even with such a low
minimum wage, wages and the services offered by the government combined with political
instability in many Latin American countries make the United States the clear cut choice for
immigrants. Though the pros of living in the United States greatly outweighs those of most of
these Latin American countries, life in the United States is significantly more difficult for
undocumented immigrants. Due to most of these migrants lacking an American education,
providing for their families is difficult via legal mean, requiring often times multiple jobs by one
or both spouses. Interestingly enough, evidence shows that first generation illegal immigrants
may have helped to decrease crime since the 1990s. In areas with higher concentrations of
immigration has been linked to decreases in violence, including homicide. Rather it is the
children of these immigrants, (both documented and undocumented children) that assimilate and

Scallan 2

produce higher rates of crime. Assimilation has been found to be so strong among some
immigrants that it has even raised questions as to if it would lead to inaccuracies and misleading
data if said immigrants were include them in such studies (Oxford University Press, 2014). The
State of Texas has a legal responsibility to protect and serve its citizens. If there are immigrants
that the State of Texas can help keep out of the streets and help put them into a university class
room, than the State must. The Texas Dream Act is essential in reducing the amount of crime
because an educated person has more financial opportunities. This creates a ripple effect, as the
children of those that attend college are far more likely to attend themselves. The Texas Dream
Act has made it possible for many young undocumented immigrants to break a cycle of poverty
and to become the first generation college students.
Repealing the Texas Dream Act would be the first step in reversing any progress made at
transforming the United States immigrant population into functional and productive members of
society. These are immigrants that have and want to make strides in attaining citizenship. How
can this be a land of opportunity when immigrants that want to be functioning members of our
society are turned down because of where they were born, something they have no control over?
Even with Texas in-state tuition is factored in with other college costs, some undocumented
immigrants still cannot afford to attend a university or college. How could these immigrants
afford more than double the tuition from the original in-state $9,500 to $20,360? With increases
in the demand of educated workers, this does nothing but hurt the Texan and overall United
States economy (Hammond, 2015). Repealing this law would force as many as 16,500 of to
postpone or stop perusing their degrees (Sander, 2015). Not only is this an economic disaster
waiting to happen, but it would also serve as a moral and ethical disgrace to what the Texas
constitution stands for.

Scallan 3

The State of Texas has a moral and legal obligation to protect its citizens while passing
legislation that will benefit its inhabitants. The undocumented immigrants will keep coming, like
it or not. Instead of trying to alienate immigrants as unwanted freeloaders, Texas needs to
support, and perhaps even reinforce, the Texas Dream Act if it ever wants to utilize its human
resources, create a safer state and to preserve its well running economy.

Table 1: Survey Respondents Names and Abbotts Stance on the DREAM Ac

Respondents Name

Date Surveyed

Approves of Abbotts

Sex

Decision (0 = No,
Kyle Lamoureux
Rogelio Castaneda
Hugo Vasquez
Richard Aguilera
Khalid Allaif
Josh Armstead
George Attalla
Reny Gonzales
Mark Barrirntez
Victoria Burke
Jesse Blair
Zach Galm

3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15
3/18/15

1 = yes)
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1

M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
M
M

Scallan 4

Ashley Frankey
3/18/15
Sarah Hunsicker
3/18/15
Caitilin Stives
3/18/15
Alejandra Bravo
3/18/15
Approval Percentage
Margin of Error
95% Confidence Interval

1
0
0
0

F
F
F
F
37.5%
24.49
13.01%-62.4%

Approval of Abbott's Position on Texas DREAM Act

Do Not Approve

37.5; 38%

Approve

62.5; 63%

Scallan 5

As we can see from the data, of the 16 students surveyed, most did not approve of
Greg Abbotts stance on the Texas Dream Act at a surprising 62.5%. Within the total UTSA
population, we can expect between 13.01% and 62.04% to support Greg Abbotts decision. It is
clear from the results of this survey that the majority of the UTSA student population do not
approve of Gregg Abbotts stance on the Texas DREAM Act. There may be statistical bias present
in the data because the majority of the surveyed individuals (11-5) were male. Bias may also be
present because the students that were surveyed in the library only. Another factor that may
affect the statistics is the age group of the sample size was relatively between 18 and 24, rather
than a selection over all age groups present at UTSA. The final factor that may have affected the
survey is survey response bias. In order to provide the most accurate survey, I propose a
combination of the simple random sampling and cluster sampling. The statistician should take a
sample of 100 students; 25 from each major ethnic group present at UTSA. Students names
from each ethic group would be placed in a separate random number and drawn until there was
25 selected from each ethnic group.

Works Cited
Hammond, B. (2015, Febuary 27). Hammond: Texas Dream Act benefits all Texans.
Houston, Texas, United States of America: Houston Chronicle.
Oxford University Press. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Ethnicity, Crime, and
Immigration. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Sander, B. R. (2015, 1 30). Texas Dream Act ought not be repealed. Dallas-Fort
Worth, Texas, United States of America: Star-Telegram.