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COLUMBIA (WACH) -- The SC House voted 69-43 to approve a bill requiring law enforcement to try to check the status of people they suspect are in the country illegally.

The bill specifies the status check must follow a stop or arrest for something else.  Unlike a law passed in Arizona last year, it says people can't be held on suspicion.  Instead, they must be processed normally if authorities don't respond.

The next stop for the measure is the Senate, which passed a different version earlier this year.

Republicans who control both the House and Senate have called the bill a top priority for the year.

Opponents still argue that it violates American freedoms and encourages racial profiling.