New Website Allows Immigrants To Check Their Status

Immigrants and other job seekers in five states, including Idaho, who have questions about their eligibility to work in the United States can now use a government database to verify their own status. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday that people in Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia and Washington, D.C., can also use the E-Verify self-check system to ask the government to correct any information that may be wrong in the Homeland Security Department or Social Security Administration files. The program, run by DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, had previously only been available to employers trying to verify the legal work status of employees. Napolitano said the self-check program is expected to expand to all other states in 12 months.