Most of Texas' growth is either natural or due to the migration of people from other states, not undocumented immigrants, said demographer Steve Murdock.
"Our growth is overwhelmingly made up of documented persons," Murdock told members of the House Mexican American Legislative Caucus Thursday.
About 10.8 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, down about 1 million from three to four years ago because of the recession, Murdock said. Of those people about 1.6 million undocumented immigrants live in Texas, he said.
"There are some really absurd figures floating around," said Murdock, a sociology professor at Rice University, former U.S. Census director and past state demographer.
He added that he was with a group that included legislators a few months ago and some said there were between 20 million and 25 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
"I don't mind a little exaggeration but we sometimes get to points where they're just demographically not very well-informed," Murdock said.
Murdock said a good indicator of the country's population is death.
"We get their bodies when they die and if there are really 25 million undocumented immigrants in the United States they are the healthiest group of people whose ever lived in the United States," he said.
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