S.C. first in Hispanic growth
Population growing fastest in state on a per capita basis
By FRANCO ORDOQEZ, TED MELNICK and MARK PRICE - McClatchy Newspapers
The Carolinas continue to have the country’s fastest-growing Hispanic populations, despite a slowing economy and a tougher crackdown on illegal immigrants.

According to new census data from 2006-07, South Carolina ranked first among states in per capita growth, North Carolina was third, with Tennessee between them.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg region continues to fuel the increase, with more than 16,000 new Hispanic residents arriving in the area.

The new arrivals come not only from Mexico, Central and South America, but also New York, New Jersey and California, where U.S. economic problems have taken a greater toll, immigrants and advocates say. Hispanics continue to see the Carolinas as having more jobs, cheaper housing and a better climate.

Not that the Charlotte region and the two states have escaped the economic slowdown. One-way bus and plane tickets from Charlotte to Latin America have more than doubled, in part because of the loss of jobs. Other Hispanics are leaving the area because of tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

But far more Hispanics continue to arrive than leave.

It’s all about the jobs, says Angeles Ortega-Moore, executive director of the Latin American Coalition in Charlotte.

“The moment companies in Charlotte, or in any place, stop hiring undocumented people, that’s the moment we will actually start seeing the decline,â€