As the national debate over immigration grows, ten Democratic presidential candidates took the stage in Houston, Texas, a city where more than 29 percent of residents were born in a different country. 

I wanted to know what was on the minds of Democratic voters in Texas - so instead of watching from the debate site, I watched with some locals at the nearby University of Houston. 

Thursday night’s debate, the third so far in this election season, covered issues ranging from healthcare to climate change. But a few of the voters I spoke with before the debate said immigration was the issue they most wanted to hear the candidates address. 

For some, like 19-year-old Alberto Huichapa, it’s an issue that feels deeply personal. His parents crossed the border from Mexico as undocumented immigrants. “You know, my parents aren’t criminals, they came over the border looking for a better life for me. I’m in college now. This is what many of these people are doing. They’re just looking for a better life,” he explained. 

For those who were hoping to hear the candidates’ views on immigration, the debate did not disappoint. Among the evening’s highlights was a spirited exchange between Julián Castro and Joe Biden. Biden, who served as vice president under President Barack Obama, defended his administration’s record on immigration, saying, “comparing this president to the president we have is outrageous, number one. We didn’t lock people up in cages, we didn’t separate families.”

In response, Castro, who has led the charge to decriminalize undocumented border crossings, criticized Biden saying, “he [Biden] wants to take credit for Obama's work, but not have to answer to any questions.”

For Alberto and his peers, the current immigration debate motivates them to get politically involved. “Seeing people like us in cages, it’s scary,” he said, “I think seeing images like that pushed people my age, Hispanics and people my age to go out and vote.”

Now a sophomore, Alberto heads a student group dedicated to advocating for Latinos. It’s a demographic of voters that has historically been somewhat hard to get to the polls, but that may be changing. 

Jason Casellas is a political professor at the University of Houston and specializes in Latino politics. “If you look at Harris County (Houston), the new generation, those who just turned 18, a pretty large percentage, more than 40 percent, are Spanish surnamed,” he explained, “and as that disproportionately young population turns 18 gets registered to vote and makes it a habit of voting, there’s nothing but an inevitable change in the future of our state’s politics.” 

Of course, issues other than immigration did come up throughout the night. Healthcare, gun control and climate change also proved to be important topics in this debate. 

By the end of the debate, a plurality of the voters at our watch party said their favorite candidate was Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

But this isn’t the end of the race. 

Voters like Alberto won’t choose a candidate based on a single debate. For him, he says, it’s about who will address the issues that most impact his future -- and the future of his family. “I’m not a rapist and criminal. I’m just a student wanting to make his parents proud. They came to this country for a reason. They didn’t just come to this country for me to be a failure. I’m trying to make them proud.”