Illegal immigration has risen 57 percent in less than two years. The number of illegal immigrants rose to at least 550,000 in 2014 and 2015, an increase from 350,000 in 2012 and 2013, according to an analysis from the
Center for Immigration Studies.
Analyst Steven A. Camarota wrote in the Center's report that all immigration, legal and illegal combined, is on the rise with 3.1 million new immigrants, a 39 percent increase in 2014 and 2015.
Data comes from large surveys by the Census Bureau on the labor force and American society, including the monthly Current Population Survey.
The increase includes new arrivals from countries in Latin America other than Mexico. More immigrants came from South Asia (such as Pakistan and India) and East Asia (such as China and Vietnam.)
Illegal immigration includes secretly crossing the border, staying after a temporary visa has expired, and being released into the U.S. after a short detention, such as families from Central America.
The last time immigration approached the 3.1 million mark was in 2000 and 2001, according to the report. Most of the charts in the analysis apparently point to immigration being on a steady rise.
Another analysis indicated that more than 61 million immigrants and their American-born children under 18 now live in the U.S. In 1970 that number was 13.5 million.
The numbers raise "profound questions" about immigration's effect on education, labor, and infrastructure.
"The latest Census Bureau data shows that the scale of new immigration is clearly enormous. It is certainly appropriate that immigration should be at the center of the current presidential election," Camarota said.
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