Poor immigrants from Michicgan replace poor from Mexico in Texas

Houston Chronicle:

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Texas gained 484,000 residents last year, more than any other state. In percentage growth, Texas' 2 percent tied for third with North Carolina and Colorado behind Utah, 2.5 percent, and Arizona, 2.3 percent.

Domestic migration in Texas last year was almost three times what it was in 2005. It peaked in 2006, when an influx of Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina contributed to about 220,000 Texas domestic migrants.

Karl Eschbach, the state demographer, said Texas has continued to produce jobs while employment declined in many other states. He said this was the key factor driving the increased domestic migration.

"For the past several years, job growth in the United States means Texas," Eschbach said. "The Texas economy has so much outperformed the rest of the country."

As domestic migration has increased, international movement into Texas has slowed, dropping from nearly 104,000 in July 2006, to about 90,000 the following year. The Mexican government recently reported a 42 percent drop in the number of people trying to enter the United States illegally in the past two years.

U.S. government officials attribute the decline to stronger border enforcement, while immigrant advocates say it mostly reflects the slowing U.S. economy.

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Michigan actually lost 46,000 residents last year. It looks like it will lose even more with the failure of the Democrats who control the state to revive the economy with higher taxes. Most of the new jobs in the country in the last year were in Texas.