Illegal workers to file 10,000 tax returns in Minnesota this year

By Elizabeth Baier

May 9, 2011

OWATONNA, Minn. — For the past six years, Maria has cleaned hotel rooms in Owatonna. She uses a fake Social Security number to work about 32 hours a week, earning $8 an hour.

Maria, 47, moved to Minnesota from the state of Tamaulipas on the U.S.-Mexico border 11 years ago. Minnesota Public Radio has agreed not to fully identify her because she’s in the country illegally.

When she started working, she knew nothing about how the U.S. tax system worked.

“Every year, I’d hear people say, ‘The taxes are coming. We have to do our taxes,’â€