Logic suggests U.S. immigration policy should be guided by the national interest and the wishes of the American people -- two things that generally coincide. But neither factor has been respected by our federal and state governments in recent years.

According to the polls, the majority of Americans want enforcement of our immigration laws, not rewarding of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens should not be given any American documents, period. Tennessee's 2001 law allowing illegal aliens to get driver's licenses insults the American people and has made Tennessee a magnet for illegal aliens.

Every week, my Web site for Tennesseans for Immigration Reform received hits from people in other countries performing Internet searches on the phrases "Tennessee state ID cards" or "Tennessee driver's licenses." Tennessee's lax law is known globally.

So far, Georgia hasn't fallen for the driver's license scam, but millions of dollars are funding the organized effort to mainstream illegal aliens and turn them into voters, and American driver's licenses are among the best ways to do that. The pressure groups demanding those licenses are not going to give up. Like just about everything else in this world, this is about power and money. But for Americans, a lot is at stake. Our future and the prospects for
humanity itself have been drastically altered and compromised by our nation's foolish immigration policies since 1965.

Our nationwide immigration reform/control network supports legislative efforts to secure the state driver's licensing process and opposes any driving privileges, state ID cards, or other benefits for people who are in our country illegally. Driver's licensing should require a verified Social Security number, as well as a U.S. birth certificate or naturalization papers or federal authorization for the applicant to be in the United States. Driver's licenses issued to visa holders should expire when the visa expires.

Federal and state governments should prohibit public agencies and private officials from accepting Mexican, and any, consular IDs. These IDs, which contain no checkable information, are issued by foreign consulates to illegal aliens in the United States. Newspapers have reported that a number of illegal aliens arrested by police were carrying multiple consular IDs issued in different names to the same person.

The Mexican government began pushing these IDs after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which stalled Mexico's push for amnesty for its illegal aliens. The consular ID maneuver undermines U.S. laws and is an effort toward a stealth amnesty. Now other countries are issuing their own consular IDs.

Public entities and private officials should not accept foreign identification documents not issued by a state or federal jurisdiction, and that are unverifiable by federal law enforcement, intelligence, or Homeland Security agencies.

I, along with many others in the immigration reform movement, advocate immediate law enforcement, which means mass deportations of illegal aliens. Don't believe it can't be done. Extreme? Consider the extreme that has been forced upon us.

A people can be too generous. For a number of years we've taken in 1 million legal immigrants and 800,000 to several million illegal aliens annually, far exceeding our traditional immigration levels. Immigration is the determining factor in our population growth and poverty rate, and an ignored factor in the alarming degradation of our environment. Some experts say the United States has already exceeded its sustainable population level, yet the Census Bureau's midrange forecast says our current population of almost 292 million will jump to nearly a half billion people by 2050.

Atlanta is already experiencing water shortages even as its population is expected to double during the next few decades. Water will become a nationwide concern. In addition, at current rates, the United States will lose 30 percent or more of its remaining 375 million acres of cropland by 2100. Some experts say our country will cease to be a food exporter by 2030 and will be unable to grow enough food for its people by 2050.

That's quite a legacy we're leaving our children.

An immigration policy that has resulted in a raid on our country by massive numbers of foreigners and in increasing inequity for American natives is wrong. A government that has breached its compact with the people and failed to protect them from subversion and attack is criminal.

What should guide U.S. immigration policy? Reality.

We have a responsibility to future generations and to other planetary kingdoms, seen and unseen, that share this space with us. Above all, and especially now, immigration policy should serve our own survival.

It is and will be a question of balance.