How California has grown

Re “More flee state than move in,” Dec. 20

The Times underplays California’s population growth from immigration by stating that growth over the last year rested on “births and the arrival of more than 200,000 immigrants.” Who gave birth to all those children? In fact, almost half of California’s babies are born to immigrant mothers. By reducing immigration, California (and the nation) could reduce births as well. During the current immigration debate, Americans should understand that since the baby boom ended in the 1960s, the U.S. switched from internal growth to importing growth.

Growth across the country is now driven by a threefold increase in immigration along with a shift to immigrants from cultures in which large families predominate.

Kenneth Pasternack

Senior Fellow

Californians for

Population Stabilization

Santa Barbara

I protest your headline on this article in which you note that 89,000 more people moved out of the state than moved in from other states during the last year. Some perspective is in order. Americans from other states have always been coming and going in the Golden State during both good and bad times. It would not be outrageous to say that many Americans still flee to California in search of opportunity. Plus, in a state with more than 37 million people, the negative outflow of 89,000 people seems statistically insignificant. The article obscures the main point of the data: There are now about 438,000 more Californians compared with last year.

Frank J. Garza

La Canada Flintridge