President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said the plan would minimize the cost to the state and encourage employers to verify the legal status of potential employees.

"The way we set it up was to minimize the cost by allowing (the enforcement agency) to go out and audit, and the fines that are assessed for the violators will be kept by the agency to pay for the program," McConnell said. "So the agency will be rewarded if they will go out and spotlight the fraud and carry that program out.

"If you want to make a good business decision and you think that you're on shaky ground," he said, "you best go E-Verify."

Sen. Jake Knotts (R-Lexington) answered criticism that immigration reform could hurt local farmers, an issue brought to the floor last Wednesday by Senate Minority Leader John Land (D-Manning), who threatened a filibuster.

"I think the farmers will be okay with this bill," Knotts said. "I've talked to several of my farmers. They don't intentionally try to hire illegals, but they don't want to be held responsible for somebody who comes in and gives them a false I.D. card. There should be a way to check it out.

"We don't have criminals as business people in the farming industry," he said. "We have hard working South Carolinians that have a vested interest in their fields and their crops, so that we can eat. They try to get it out of the fields as quickly as possible. They don't want to hire illegals. They want to hire people who they know can do the job."

The issue, said Sen. Gerald Malloy (D-Darlington), is one of accountability.

"There was give and take on both sides," he said, "and what we came up with was a comprehensive bill."

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