A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it.

Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back.

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IN THIS EPISODE

— Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country
— The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate
— How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first
— June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law
— The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount
— What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3
— Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open
00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega
00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters
01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403
02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it
03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point
04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator
04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside
05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed
06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it
07:02 What happened to the law in 2025
07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls
08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone
08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree
09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
10:01 What changed since 2001
11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot
11:44 What an attorney general could actually do
12:25 The return on the investment
13:22 The next twenty-five years
14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT
15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico
16:03 Starting the family business
16:43 The fight is not over
17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now
17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote
18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other
19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday
20:25 Sign-off

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ABOUT THE GUEST

RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008.

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.

HIRAM GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.

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ABOUT TEJANO TALKS

Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We’re here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.

Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We’re on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

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