One of the big pieces of news over the past few years has been internal migration within America: People have fled Democrat-run states and headed to Republican-run states. Sadly, this trend wasn’t reflected in the 2020 Census (which also counted illegal aliens in Blue states), so the House will have too many Democrat reps and too few Republican rep for several more years, but it’s still newsworthy.

One of the states that lost the greatest number of residents was California. Conservatives pointed out that this wasn’t a surprise, given that California is a high-tax, high-regulation, high-crime, high-homelessness, high-sexual-perversion-visited-on-children state. The fast-draining population was an indictment of leftist governance.

However, California wants you to know that it’s back, baby! According to a report originally published in the Los Angeles Times, “California’s population grew by almost a quarter of a million residents in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a rebound that brings the state almost back to its pre-pandemic numbers.” Well, that’s impressive and would seem to put the lie to the contention that nobody wants to live in an expensive madhouse.

However, the devil, as always, is in the details. As the article notes, California is still lagging behind states in the South, where people are running to seek fiscal and civil sanity. (By the way, the South had better be careful because some of those people are the same kind of blue state refugees who turned Colorado, once a stalwart conservative state, into a basket case wrapped in a cloud of marijuana smoke.)

While California’s population gain of 232,570 people from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024, represents the largest numeric population increase in the western states, it lagged behind Texas, which expanded its population by 562,941, and Florida, which grew by 467,347 people.

California’s 0.6% population increase also fell short of the national average (0.9%) and was significantly outpaced by the District of Columbia (2.2%), Florida (2%) and Texas (1.8%).

In other words, yes, California’s growing, but it’s still lagging behind the average American state. It’s not an impressive accomplishment, but Gavin Newsom’s team is still so proud:

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office celebrated the Census Bureau estimate, released the same week that the California Department of Finance released data that also showed state population growth.

“People from across the nation and the globe are coming to the Golden State to pursue the California Dream and experience the success of the world’s fifth largest economy — strengthening local communities, regional economies and our state’s future,” said Brendan Richards, a spokesman for Newsom.

It’s only when you get to the 12th paragraph in the essay that you learn the real secret behind California’s population “rebound”—immigration. The essay is coy, but I’m willing to bet that a lot of that immigration isn’t of the legal variety:

California’s population growth stems largely from international migration and natural population increases (the net result of births minus deaths) — not domestic migration.

[snip]

The main driver of California’s population growth is people from outside the U.S. The state had the nation’s second largest net gain in international migration, attracting 361,057 people from other countries, short of Florida’s 411,322, but ahead of Texas’ 319,569.

Californians are also having babies, “with a net gain of 110,466 people, just short of Texas’ 158,753.” Just as I’m willing to bet that the immigrants aren’t here legally, I’m also willing to bet that this mini-baby boom isn’t from legal citizens. (Texas, of course, has been the front line of illegal immigration, with many of the illegal aliens staying put in Texas.)

California, of course, insists that the international migration driving the state’s population growth comes from legal immigration, but I have my doubts. I trust California’s official pronouncements as much as I do Biden’s promise that he wasn’t going to pardon Hunter.

The LA Times essay strikes me as a perfect balance between truth and omission. It’s also a reminder that, by 2030, Republicans had better nail down the fact that illegal aliens cannot be counted in the Census for representation in the House.

Image (with added text) by Grok.