When the Minuteman Project lined up volunteers to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border in April, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson greeted the move with approval.

But the South Carolina congressman does not favor the group's latest proposal to recruit private volunteers to challenge businesses that hire illegal workers. A newly affiliated Lowcountry group still says it is ready to sign on to the campaign but has remained quiet about specifics.

"I would really prefer that people work with the existing structure that we already have," Wilson said this week. "I actually thought they were doing a commendable service in backing up the border patrol."

While describing the border patrol effort as "very professional and very constructive," he said the latest effort seemed to intrude on the jurisdiction of federal, state and local law enforcement.

The Minuteman Project, which uses the motto "Americans doing the jobs our government won't do," announced some basic details about its plans Monday. The group hopes to enlist immigration lawyers and former federal government employees to target businesses that hire illegal immigrants, including bringing their own lawsuits.

The group does not say how it hopes to identify the groups, especially ones that never have been cited for immigration-related violations.

Other aims include rooting out voter fraud, identity theft and fraudulent qualification for public assistance, all issues that the group says often are linked to illegal immigration.

The effort is part of an ongoing campaign called "Operation Spotlight." The campaign is listed under a portion of the group's Web site called "internal vigilance operations." Additionally, the group is asking volunteers to submit digital photos and other types of evidence that show employers breaking the law.

Members of Citizens for a Better Community, which will be reforming as a local chapter of the Minuteman Project, are encouraging Lowcountry businesses to call a toll-free number to verify Social Security numbers. Many undocumented workers will use made-up, stolen or borrowed numbers.

While agreeing that the country's immigration law needs reform, the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce strongly disagreed with the group's approach.

"The Minuteman Project has been noted for some of its radical tactics and inflammatory language," spokeswoman Charlie Clark said.

Immigration, Clark said, "is a complicated issue and one without a quick solution." While the chamber encourages all businesses to abide by U.S. immigration laws, she said many local businesses are heavily dependent on the Hispanic labor force, many of whom do not have legal status to be in the United States.

She said members of the Latino community aren't just workers, but an integral part of the community as consumers, students and business owners who will continue to come to the area as long as it has a strong community and desirable quality of life.

"There is no doubt that the U.S. immigration system is in need of change," Clark said. "Until that time, the Minuteman Project's divisive tactics don't solve the issue, and it serves to further divide communities."

Simultaneous with its push against businesses hiring illegal workers, the Minuteman Project hopes to exert pressure on politicians who do not promote tougher measures against illegal immigration.

Wilson, whose actions as a congressman generally have pleased advocates of stricter immigration controls, is not likely to be one of them. In an "immigration-reduction report card" issued by Americans for Better Immigration, a nonprofit lobbying group, Wilson receives an "A" for his career voting record on immigration, compared with a "B" rating for S.C. Republican Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham and an "F" for Democratic U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn.

Wilson said he has supported several bills designed to create a more secure immigration system. One is the Real ID Act, which aims to control immigration, ease deportation of illegals and impose new requirements on states to seek proof of applicants' legal residence before issuing drivers licenses. Another is the CLEAR Act, a proposal to give local and state law enforcement the power to enforce federal immigration laws.

Two bills introduced in the House and the Senate last month would change immigration policy and could have reverberations in the Lowcountry. Titled "The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005," the bills would establish a new visa class for workers who come to the United States with few skills and take jobs Americans often are not applying for.

A note from Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist, distributed by e-mail Monday, said:

"The Minuteman Project hopes to build a financial powerhouse commensurate to that of political parties currently dominating America's political arena. It is hoped that top-of-the-line professionals from the judiciary, law enforcement, media and academic vocations can be effectively employed to return the United States to its traditional governance by rule of law. To this end, massive efforts in the form of financial, professional and volunteer resources are necessary."

Members of Citizens for a Better Community said recently that they would incorporate as a local chapter of the Minuteman Project. They have yet to reveal details about what they intend to do.

"We're not divulging anything," president Ebba Gamer said this week. "Why should we?"

That, she said, might tip off businesses to their plans.

Sheriff P.J. Tanner has said repeatedly that his deputies do not have the jurisdiction to enforce federal immigration law, including after a forum last October when Citizens for a Better Community criticized local law enforcement for not doing more.

Several immigration lawyers said they were at a loss as to how businesses could be targeted through private lawsuits. Randall Dong, a Columbia lawyer with experience in employment- and family-based immigration law, said immigration is the "exclusive province of federal law enforcement; it's not for anyone else."

"Until I saw such a lawsuit," he said, "I don't know how they could create standing to bring such a lawsuit."

One misconception, according to Dong, is that most illegal immigrants have a legal option for living and working in the country.

"A lot of the folks who are unlawfully here, they would do anything to be lawfully here, but they don't have a way to get there," he said. "The problem of illegal immigration is in large part caused by a broken immigration system that doesn't allow people to immigrate in a lawful way.

"There has to be a better way than having people standing on the border with guns or bringing what amounts to frivolous lawsuits. It's a waste of time and a waste of money. We need to have meaningful immigration reform."

By that, he said, he meant a "safe, orderly way for people to immigrate" that "gives people an incentive to be documented."

Amy Sugimori, an attorney with the New York-based National Employment Law Project, an advocacy organization for the working poor and unemployed, echoed a similar refrain about "meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform."

Reform, Sugimori said, should include cutting off opportunities for sweatshop conditions. Her definition of sweatshops includes any business where workers are exploited and could be applied to construction, restaurants or numerous other industries.

Without economic incentives for unscrupulous employers to create sweatshop conditions, she said, the demand for undocumented workers also might decrease.

"Overtly targeting the immigrants as the problem often pushes the problem underground," she said. "Let's make sure that sweatshops aren't created."