Fred Smith checks the immigration status of his employees online.

Two businesses run by the Republican gubernatorial candidate, the Fred Smith Co. and the C.C. Mangum Co., participate in E-Verify.

The voluntary program allows companies to check federal databases to see whether employees can legally work in the United States. Smith's businesses signed up in 2005 in part because of his impending gubernatorial bid.

"When you put yourself in the public square, when you put yourself under the microscope, we have to go to extra steps to ensure we're complying with the law," Smith told Dome. "It's our effort to comply with the law. It's just that simple."

A Republican-sponsored bill in 2007 would have required employers who receive incentives and public contracts in North Carolina to use E-Verify. It never made it out of committee.

More after the jump.

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