About 1.5 million immigrants, legal and otherwise, entered the United States in 2014 and 2015, according to a Center of Immigration Studies analysis of Census data. This is an increase from the 1.1 million entering the U.S. in 2012 and 2013. Most disturbingly, the data also shows illegal immigration increased 57% in the last two years. As Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard notes the 1.5 million immigrants entering the United States is equal to the population of Albuquerque, New Mexico, being added to the nation a year.

“The latest Census Bureau data shows that the scale of new immigration is clearly enormous,” wrote author of the study Steven Camarota. “The numbers raise profound questions about assimilation and the impact of immigration on the nation’s education system, infrastructure, and labor market, as well as the size and density of the U.S. population. It is difficult to find a public policy that has a more profound impact across American society than the level of immigration. It is certainly appropriate that immigration should be at the center of the current presidential election.” One thing’s for certain: Barack Obama’s lax immigration policies are encouraging a wave of lawless immigration into the country and it appears another wave of southern border hopping will occur this summer. The Border Patrol is already beginning to see the increase.