Have Texas Attitudes Shifted Over Time on Immigration?
by Anthony Ray Garcia
Immigration has been a problem that has plagued the United States for many years, especially, Texas known for the many border sectors near the country of Mexico. Based on thee 2017 Texas Statewide Poll, the most important issue facing the State of Texas today is immigration (Texas Lyceum Poll). The Texas Lyceum Poll also shows that border security is the third most important issue facing the state in the minds of Texans as well. Since, Donald Trump was recently elected in 2016 as president of the United States, he shows strong feelings against immigrants wanting to assimilate in U.S. society. For example, in the summer of 2015 Trump stated, “Mexico sent its worst elements, including rapists, drug-runners, and that a beautiful wall built between Mexico and the U.S. is necessary to the problem of immigration” (Winder). Overall, many support this idea that Texas attitudes on immigration have not shifted with the Texas public being widely conservative and with Trump being in office, it has only encouraged Texas to still be strong against immigration.
Many assume that Texans’ attitudes towards immigration have not changed during Trump’s presidency. A 2017 Texas Statewide Poll found that illegal immigration is an “extreme concern” for the Texas public by 37 percent and with another 35 percent that is still “somewhat concern” (Texas Lyceum Poll). This shows that Texas once again considers immigration to be a major factor for the public. In fact, the public with concern over illegal immigration is “safety/criminality” with 19 percent, and with “economic factors” coming in second (Texas Lyceum Poll). Not only do the Texas public view immigration as a major concern, but 45 percent of the general public wants the Texas Legislature to continue funding the border security operations and 28 percent wants to increase funding, while Trump is in office (Texas Lyceum Poll). This is a high number compared to a 15 percent in wanting to decrease funding. As a result, the evidence suggests that the public of Texas have major concerns over immigration and the type of illegal/legal immigrants migrating to the United States.
Even though the Texas public tends to have conservative views on immigration, Texas also has policies implemented against immigration as well. For example, “passing 82 (R)-HB 2734 — in Texas — relating to certain mandatory conditions with supervision and revocation of parole for illegal criminal aliens” (Payan). Furthermore, “DACA of 2012 that allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to be protected from deportation, while also allowing them to obtain a work permit — has now been revoked by president Trump in 2017” (Winder). Lastly, “SB 4 passed — a law in Texas — that allows local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of people they detain or arrest” (Aguilar). This shows that the laws being enacted not only enforce for deportations, but shows an increase in domestic surveillance within the public. Additionally, the policies enacted correlate with the opinions being portrayed by the Texas public as well. Ultimately, these policies enact conservative views with specific restraints among immigrants that are non-documented and documented.
Besides viewing these perspectives within Texas, I have analyzed data from the Texas Tribune/University of Texas Poll from 2013 to 2017. The evidence suggests that there is a shift among the Texas public on immigration, from anti-immigration shifting to a pro-immigration view. The results of this research imply that Texas in 2013 had strong opinions against immigration. However, Texas in 2017 has now shown a shift in the opinion where Texas is more tolerable towards the idea of immigration.
An analysis of the data provided by Texas Tribune/University of Texas Poll shows a shift of public opinion from the years of 2013 to 2017. Down below in Table One, shows a survey poll question asking, “Do you agree or disagree that undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States should be deported immediately?” As you can see, starting the year of 2014 there is a 35% out of 40% who strongly agree with the statement mention that shifted over the years, wherein the year of 2017 there is a 23% out of 40% who still strongly agree. This shows that, even though there may not be a huge dramatic difference, it brings to questions that there is a shift of opinion occurring among the public. Based on Migration Policy Institute on Table Two down below, shows that children under 18 who reside in Texas having at least one parent who is an immigrant had an increase from 2013 to 2017. As you can observe, in 2013 the starting number was 2,274 than an increase in 2017 to 2,412. Despite the difference being a small amount, the evidence provides that there still has been an increase among children with at least one immigrant parent living in Texas.
These findings do not mean that Texas is not conservative, but rather that Texas is now starting to be more acceptable towards immigrants and immigration. For example, “local governments in Texas did pass sanctuary city resolutions to at least 15 cities, including Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio” (Payan). Additionally, “65 percent of the public in Texas support to stop the deportation of any undocumented immigrant’s youth who attend college or serve in the military and to provide them with a legal work permit, compared to 28 percent who opposes it” (Henson & Blank). Lastly, “Texas passed 81 (R)-HB 233 that creates an advisory committee to establish and recommend qualifications for certain health care translators and interpreters” (Payan). This shows that despite Trump being in office we can see a shift not only occurring among the opinions of the public, but the policies being emplaced within Texas as well. However, Texas is starting to be considerate of the immigrants and immigrant families that migrate to Texas. For instance, such as having translators for health care to immigrants who may not speak English and establishing sanctuary cities in heavily populated areas. Finally, the goal of this has been to provide information about the impact of immigration while Trump in office that has been an influence on the public opinion of Texas.
References
Aguilar, Julián. “Texas Back in Federal Court Over Anti- ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Law.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 7 Nov. 2017, www.texastribune.org/2017/11/07/texas-sanctuary-cities-law-federal-court/.
Henson, Jim, and Joshua Blank. “Public Attitudes Toward Immigration and Responses to Trump’s DACA Moves in the Texas GOP.” The Texas Politics Project, Texas Tribune, 7 Sept. 2017.
Payan, Tony. “Immigration Reform: A System for the 21st Century.” Rice University Baker Institute, April 2013. Print.
Texas Lyceum Poll, “2017 Texas Statewide Survey,” April 18, 2017, Survey was conducted April 3–9 with a sample of 1,000 Texas adults.
Winder, Jamie. Fall 2016. “Immigration and the 2016 Election,” in The University of North Carolina Press, vol. 56, no. 3. pp. 291–296.
“Ensure That Police Officers Have the Right to Question Immigration Status (June 2017).” The Texas Politics Project, 23 Oct. 2017.