Created: 11/09/2009 7:06 PM KSTC45.com | Print Story

More than 1,200 Minn. Janitors Fired in Immigration Audit

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - An immigration attorney says roughly 1,250 undocumented janitors in the Twin Cities were fired from their jobs in October as their company checked immigration papers.

The janitors worked for ABM Industries Inc., a New-York based company that provides janitorial services, said John Keller, an attorney for the nonprofit Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

Minnesota Public Radio News first reported the firings on Monday.

Keller says the workers' union called his office in early June for legal advice. He says ABM had sent employees letters that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was requiring workers to show documents proving they had legal status to work in the U.S.

Keller says the vast majority of the 1,250 fired workers were undocumented. Keller says to his knowledge, no one was deported.

ICE spokesman Tim Counts said the agency doesn't discuss ongoing enforcement activity.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)