Immigration is in the news these days, but not for the typical reasons. Usually, we are discussing immigration reform because a bill has been filed or a “Gang of 8” has decided to push legislation forward.

Immigration is in the news these days for three very different reasons. Ann Coulter has a new book out with the provocative title, Adios, America. And speaking of provocative, we certainly have heard lots comments about Donald Trump’s statements in his campaign kickoff speech. Add to that the murder of Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco, and you have lots of people talking about immigration.

Many of the facts and statistics are startling. Most Americans (93%) have a high school diploma. By contrast, about 75 percent of illegal aliens do not have a high school diploma. It is safe to say that many of the Mexicans coming to America are not achievers in the educational or economic sense.

Of greater concern is the number of illegal aliens in prison. Ann Coulter reminds us that the federal government refuses to tell us how many prisoners are immigrants. What we do know is concerning. For example, there are more foreign inmates in the New York state prisons from Mexico than from the entire continent of Europe. This is significant since half of all Mexican immigrants in the U.S. live either in Texas or California.

One estimate is that 71 percent of non-American citizens in federal prisons are from Mexico. Another government statistic shows that Mexican criminals represent 16 percent of all convicts serving time in federal penitentiaries.

President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform Act in 1986. Bill Clinton signed another immigration reform bill in 1996. Nearly twenty years later, we still have a problem, in part because the mayor of San Francisco and the Obama administration will not obey the immigration laws on the books.

We need this debate, if for no other reason than important facts are starting surface about our immigration chaos.