Most Republicans favor a national ID card. Most Democrats adamantly oppose the idea. Those who oppose the idea say it’s an intrusion of privacy. But is it?

Most Americans already carry some sort of personal identification in the form of a driver’s license or state-issued identification. Furthermore, we are frequently asked to show proof of identification for many reasons. Common examples include opening a bank account, boarding an aircraft, obtaining a marriage license, purchasing alcoholic beverages, writing a check, getting a job, applying for a loan, crossing a U.S. border, obtaining a notarized signature, purchasing a home or car, getting a hunting or fishing license and purchasing a firearm. You can’t even play Little League without some form of ID.

Examples of ID that people must frequently produce to various agencies and organizations include birth certificates, passports, Social Security cards and driver licenses or state identification cards. Why not a national ID card? It’s difficult to understand why one must be required to purchase health insurance but not carry identification showing one’s nationality.

In my experiences, I’ve always had to prove to law enforcement that I am who I say I am when asked to show identification. A person, when asked to present identification to a peace officer, must do so or risk going to jail until the officer is satisfied of that person’s correct identity.

The controversial new Arizona law simply requires a person to show ID and proof of citizenship when a person is suspected of an offense or apprehended in the investigation of a crime. The officer must have reasonable suspicion before asking about citizenship. Asking for ID under either of these scenarios is the standard by which all law enforcement agencies operate.

I am not in favor of amnesty nor do I favor mass deportation. What I favor is identifying everyone here illegally and making each register as a guest worker. More importantly, I favor stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into this country.

If the feds are unwilling to do anything meaningful in that respect, then the states should have the right to protect their people and property. In Maricopa County, Arizona, more than 1,100 illegally immigrants are in jail waiting to be prosecuted for violent crimes such as murder, kidnapping and aggravated assault. Guess who is expected to bear the cost of defending these individuals and seeing that their rights aren’t violated? If I were the parent or family member of victims of these violent crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, I would be furious.

Solution: a guest worker program that would require employers to pay a fee of $5,000 per year for each guest worker. Each worker would be required to pay a tax on income. Workers would not be eligible for any government entitlements or welfare including Earned Income Tax Credit or food stamps. Guest workers should be here to work and pay nonrefundable income taxes. If a guest worker is self-employed, he or she should bear the employer cost.

The guest worker would be guaranteed at least minimum wage and afforded other basic protections against employer abuse. These measures could produce more than $50 billion of new revenue for our government. And if employers fail to pay the guest worker fee for employees, the fine would be triple the amount usually required.

Hopefully the new immigration enforcement law set to take effect in Arizona next week and the Justice Department lawsuit against it will bring resolution to the issue. The people of Arizona and other southern border states have a right to see their borders sealed. But I’m afraid the reason neither party will do anything meaningful about immigration reform is out of fear from Hispanic voters. And that’s wrong.

Those opposing such measures should consider the late Barbara Jordan, a liberal Texas icon who, under President Bill Clinton, chaired a congressional commission that advocated tougher immigration laws. During that period, she noted that “it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.”

She, too, advocated a national ID card.

Gordon Robinson is president of Robinson Media, which owns the Tribune-Herald .