A brilliant example of "irony" from Sonora, Mexico: In January, elected officials reacted with vehement dismay to recently instituted laws in the bordering U.S. state of Arizona aimed at the crimes of illegal employment and illegal immigration.

It seems Mexican officials are being overwhelmed with demands for housing, social services and classroom space in schools to accommodate repatriated Mexican citizens who were previously looking for a better life - illegally - in Arizona.

"How can they pass a law like this? Mexico is not prepared for this, for the tremendous problems," was one telling January quote from a Mexican legislator on the thousands of Mexicans returning home as a result of the Arizona laws.

How, indeed. Yet American officials and taxpayers have been expected to handle such problems without complaint for more than 20 years.

Arizona, like Georgia and a growing number of other states, is proving the obvious: Enforcement works.

The recently ended Georgia legislative session has produced several bills that, combined with Woodstock Republican Sen. Chip Rogers' 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, could add to the consternation in Mexico.

Now awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue's signature, Senate Bill 350, sponsored by Sen. John Wiles, R-Marietta, would punish Georgia residents - including illegal aliens - caught driving without ever having obtained a Georgia driver's license. Presently, unlicensed driving usually results in a small fine, regarded as little more than the cost of doing business for unlicensed, illegal drivers. Wiles' bill allows for fingerprinting violators, fines of up to $1,000 and jail time for the first offense, with a felony charge for anyone convicted more than three times in five years.

Besides being a deterrent to illegal immigration, SB 350 would save lives on Georgia roads. Perhaps it would have saved Cobb County Sheriff's deputy Loren Lilly, killed when he was run off the road by an unlicensed illegal alien driver in December 2006.

This is the second year Wiles has fought for passage of his legislation; a nearly identical bill was vetoed by the governor last year. Wiles deserves our gratitude for his devotion to public safety and his courage in standing up to the radical illegal alien lobby.

Ditto for state Rep. James Mills, R-Gainesville, whose House Bill 978, also awaiting Perdue's signature, allows law enforcement officers to impound the vehicles of drivers found to be driving without being licensed - the huge majority of whom are illegals.

On another front, the second violation of the crime of knowingly manufacturing, selling, distributing or possessing false identification documents would be a felony in the language of Senate Bill 421, from Sen. Chip Pearson, R-Dawsonville.

These bills earned all the right enemies, including the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. This coalition is petitioning the governor to veto the legislation noted above.

Two Senate resolutions passed during this year's legislative session also are noteworthy, final and cannot be vetoed. SR 827 ,written by Sen. Nancy Schaefer, R-Turnerville, expresses the will of the Georgia Senate to urge Congress to withdraw the United States from the little-known Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America or any activity that seeks the economic merger of the United States with other nations, as has happened in Europe with the European Union.

SR 1011 from Sen. Bill Jackson, R-Appling, offers gratitude and appreciation to the U.S. Border Patrol and urges the president to review the ludicrous incarceration of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. Both were prosecuted for improperly reporting the wounding of an illegal alien smuggling drugs.

For those who promote and defend illegal immigration, this was not a good legislative session, if the governor lets enforcement work. To help solve some "tremendous problems" in Georgia, call the governor's office at (404) 656-1776 and ask him to sign the bills waiting for his signature into law.

• King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society which is opposed to illegal immigration. The society's Web site is (http://www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org.)

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 050408