from politifact.com

Setting up a question to San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, CNN reporter John King mentioned the changing population of Texas.

"Sometime in the next decade, there will be more Latinos in the state of Texas than there are Anglos," King said on the July 13 edition of "John King, USA." "That will happen sometime in the next five to eight to 10 years."

So cable news reporters are now demographers?

Meryl Conant, senior publicist for CNN Washington, told us King based his prediction on information from a San Antonio Express-News news article and the San Antonio-based Texas State Data Center, home to the state demographer, Dr. Lloyd Potter. We'd already contacted Potter, who told us the data center’s population projections suggest various timelines for the state's Latinos to outnumber Anglos.

According to the data center, it "is anticipated that the number of Hispanics will exceed the number of Anglos in the state at some point in the coming decade. This benchmark might be achieved a little sooner or a little later if migration is respectively more rapid or more slow than that utilized for this projection."

King's forecast could prove correct "assuming most of our migration, fertility and mortality assumptions hold true," Potter said in an e-mail. "The only concern I have is (King’s) statement indicating such certainty."

His e-mail continues: "The variable with the most uncertainty is migration. Under our most conservative migration scenario, we project this threshold will occur at about 2020 give or take a year. Under the most aggressive scenario, the threshold would occur around 2014 or 2015. Under the 'unlikely' no-migration scenario, it won’t occur until almost 2035."

Assuming conservative migration numbers, the data center projects a population of 28 million by 2020, including more than 11.8 million Hispanics and slightly fewer Anglos.

The trend has been seen in census numbers. In the 2000 Census, 52 percent of Texans were Anglo, and 32 percent identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino (of any race). By 2008, according to the Census Bureau, Texas’ Hispanic proportion had grown to 37 percent, and its Anglo proportion had shrunk to 47 percent.

Potter said the ethnicity projections could change. "If the borders closed to international migration, that would slow it considerably. If Texas’ economy slumped, that would slow the trend. When looking into the projections crystal ball, keeping these limitations of uncertainty in mind is healthy."

Still, King's prediction -- a majority Hispanic population within 5 to 10 years -- has enough wiggle room to fit all the data center's migration forecasts, except the no-migration scenario.

We rate King’s statement True.



scary or progressive or just dont care?

it's not just texas, but all the border states... texas just has the biggest border, and harder to enforce. but yea, i believe it. thats why i am for the immigration act, and i can't wait till it gets here.

the only thing that would bother me about it is the resulting requirement that those living there would have to change their native tongue to compete or work and that extra monies would be spent to transition the children between languages,,,

they teach them english in school...most can speak english here, but choose not to.

If English is ever voted in as our primary language, that would change a lot of how business is done in Gov.

I don't believe Gov. can dictate what language is spoken in the private business sector.

Like here. The Wal-Mart doesn't require employees speak or write English.

Some, don't even write Spanish well.

The majority of those older Mexicans only went as far as the sixth grade. They were schooled well in Math and Mexican History. Many have only, basic reading skills.

My Father-in-Law never attended school and is illiterate. He became a naturalized citizen before there were many qualifications one had to meet.

His dumb asss voted for Obiteme because he wasn't white.

Now, he's pisssed because he did it. They cut his Medicaide just recently because of a SS raise he got last year and his wife died. He was just over the limit.

Now, when he talks about BO, it's that pinche negrito.

If I receive assistance from unemployment I am not eligible for financial assistance from a second government source like welfare


I didnt think that was a NEW policy,,,,,

and I think people from all academic backgrounds should be able to work, I just dont think people in America should have to speak another language to find work or that people who dont speak intelligible english should be working in positions where they are supposed to HELP or ASSIST english speakers.

California has had the same law as Arizona on the books their Chicken S**t Police just wont enforce it.

just about all the people that are in the city governments are spanish, so locally they don't want the laws enforced, nor are they lift a finger to get them enforced. they don't have to say everyone must speak english, but all the state and government forms should be english only.

That can only be done if the Feds and States enact English as the primary language.

If it is done, all Gov. business will be done in English.

The Wal-Mart here claims it's discrimination to not hire because the person cannot read or write English.

The more encouragement Illegals get from Hussein, Pelosi, Rangel and Napolitano, the more widespread the problem will become.

when all they care about is votes, things like this happen.

Speaking of whites being the minority is a fearmongering tool used to spark the racists to action.

Obama has done nothing to change SS or medicaid.

There are legal citizens who prefer to speak their home language and that is okay. If they can find work that will allow them to do so, why should anyone else care. If an employer gets complaints about it's employees being unable to interact with the customers they will make sure that they have employees who speak all languages needed.

Illegals can't vote so their is no issue there and citizen deserve to vote regardless to where they come from.

No one complained about English being the primary language of America at the turn of the 20th century. When America was flooded with immigrants that spoke German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Cantonese, etc. But now, because new immigrants do not want to join the "melting-pot" that America is supposed to be, the nation as a whole must change?

American English is the offical language of business. International business contracts are written in English, so to learn English as a language would actually be benificial for an immagrant. It worked for the millions of people that came here before our society got soft and started worrying that we might offend someone, it will still work for those that come now.

I sometimes think its hard to understand because I am not in the shoes of an immigrant, but I do know I would never go to France or Italy or Spain to live without learning French, Italian or Spanish or maintaining some expectation to learn it instead of just expecting those to learn my native tongue instead,,,

From what my German Professor in college said, it's easier to learn language by going a culture and being immersed. I guess it's like when Dad threw you in the pool and said "Swim." When you have no alternative, you pick it up pretty quick, but trying to spoon feed it to someone (i.e. language courses) makes it actually more difficult to learn. The notion behind it is if you are not immersed, you still try to convert the meaning back to the original language, where as if you are immersed, you just learn the terms.

If this is actually true, the dual language thing we do now, actually hurts more than it helps.