Thread: MN-1,250 Twin Cities janitors fired in immigration audit

Keller says to his knowledge, no one was arrested or deported.

This should be titled 1,200 Americans get their jobs back from illegal aliens!

I know a US war vet that worked as a janitor to keep his job at a defense contractor in the 80s during the recession so I don't want to hear that this is a job that an American wont do. My friend's mother was a hotel maid too.

Dixie

1,200 Illegal Workers Fired in Minnesota

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 11:20 AM EST

posted on NumbersUSA

In the largest immigration enforcement action under the Obama Administration, 1,200 illegal aliens working as janitors in Minnesota were fired last month. The illegal aliens worked for a San Francisco-based company, ABM, that is contracted to clean many of the office buildings in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Shifting from the Bush policy of conducting worksite enforcement actions, the Obama Administration pressured the company to fire the illegal workers. The company has not said how big their Minnesota workforce was, but legal workers who continue working said about 80 percent of the workforce was fired.

Unlike the Bush-era enforcement actions, no action was taken against the fired workers. ABM will likely be prosecuted. Former ICE agent, Mark Cangemi, is unsure if the new strategy will prove to be effective.

"Why give people an opportunity to leave the employment without taking any action against them as individuals?" Cangemi told Minnesota Public Radio. "Put them into proceedings. Let them argue their case. If they have a case that allows them to remain in the United States under the law, so be it. If they don't, then the law stands to be enforced."

In an interview with MPR, an anonymous janitor said, "I really want people to hear -- and if possible even get to the ears of President Barack Obama -- that we don't come here for anything other than to work."

The unemployment rate in Minnesota in September was 7.3%. Of the 1,200 job openings created by the firings, apparently all the jobs have been filled.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/ ... esota.html

Oh, come on guys. We all know that those 150,000 visas handed out EVERY month are for ag workers. We all know immigrants only work in fields and fast food restaurants.

We are making progress. We have to get rid of Janet. And Nazi Pelosi. And Reid. And, God willing, Obama. Heaven help us if he gets reelected.

Where do I get a job that doesn't check me out

Could I change my citizenship to Mexican ???

Will I have to pay taxes ?

Where do I sign up?

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

Why werent they arrested and deported? Mr. Keller is an immigration attorney and he doesnt know what happend to 1250 illegal aliens? IMO Mr. Keller knows exactly where they all are and is going to charge massive fees to represent them.

The tougher immigration enforcement has prompted three of the janitor's four siblings to return to Mexico, taking their U.S. citizen children with them. But as crushed as he was to lose his janitor's job, he says he still won't return to Mexico. GOOD, enforcement works!

The janitor says he's still afraid ICE agents could round him up because they have all his data from ABM. And he's frantic to find more work.

"I really want people to hear -- and if possible even get to the ears of President Barack Obama -- that we don't come here for anything other than to work" said the janitor. "And if anyone could see the places we come from and were in our shoes, they would do the same thing."

Don't give a rat's patoot, millions have emigrated legally. WHy don't you go back to your country and try walking in their shoes? Get out!

A new approach to immigration

The Obama Administration's new immigration strategy, focusing more on crackdowns on employers than worker deportations, has its first Minnesota test case.

By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune

Last update: November 10, 2009 - 11:59 PM

The Obama Administration's new immigration strategy, focusing more on crackdowns on employers than worker deportations, has its first Minnesota test case.

More than 1,200 workers from American Building Maintenance Co. left their jobs last month after immigration agents conducted an audit of the company -- an audit that revealed they were working illegally. But instead of the workers being taken into custody, they were allowed to return to their homes. The Minneapolis company reportedly is still under investigation.

"This is the new enforcement regime of the Obama administration, but we're not sure what to make of it,'' said John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center, a nonprofit agency that is assisting some of the workers fired from ABM. "Many questions are left unanswered.''

Will ABM be hit with a fine or penalty? Will the workers simply return to shadow employment? Are other Minnesota employers next in line? It's the buzz in the Twin Cities immigrant community.

ABM is one of more than 600 employers being audited this year by federal immigration agents. Leaders at ABM Industries, a San-Francisco based company, declined to provide details of the audit. Corporate spokesman Tony Mitchell issued this statement:

"Federal law prescribes specific procedures by which employers conduct employment verification activities. Our policy is full compliance with the law."

Tim Counts, spokesman for the regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said he could not comment on the case. The workers union will not comment on the case.

Workers such as Veronica, a former ABM office cleaner, support the new enforcement strategy, especially when the alternative could be the kinds of raids and deportations that rocked the Swift meatpacking plants in Worthington in 2006 and in Postville, Iowa, last year. But leaving ABM nonetheless was "a huge blow'' to the St. Paul mother of two.


http://www.startribune.com/local/east/6 ... c:_Yyc:aUU

SEIU Statement on ICE Enforcement in the Twin Cities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Published November 10, 2009 11:39 AM
Ali Jost, (202) 730-7159, ali.jost@seiu.org

Washington, DC--SEIU issued the following statement regarding ICE enforcement in the Twin Cities:


"Enforcement without comprehensive reform is like redecorating when the house is on fire. Instead of solving problems, it only succeeds in pushing undocumented workers away from responsible employers and deeper into the shadows--benefitting the most unscrupulous off-the-books employers and degrading the quality of life for the rest of us. In the end, we are no where closer to solving the broken immigration system: communities lose; responsible businesses lose; families lose.

"We cannot enforce our way out of this problem. According to Pew Hispanic Center, more than one in 20 workers--performing critical jobs across industries and throughout the country--are unauthorized. Estimated to cost well over $200 billion, it is neither desirable nor feasible to deport 12 million people living and working in our communities. In the absence of comprehensive reform, workplace enforcement that is not part of a broader strategy leads to a chaotic churning of the workplace that benefits no one.

"It's time for Congress to focus on fixing the root causes of our broken immigration system. Our immigration problems will not go away until we get unauthorized immigrants into the system--get them to pass background checks, pay fines, learn English and become U.S. citizens. It's time to rebuild our immigration system so that it strengthens our economy, supports working families, and restores the rule of law for the long-term. Now is the time."

SEIU's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Principles:
A comprehensive solution would couple enforcement at the border and in the workplace with a path to earned legalization for all hard working immigrants. It will also replace guest worker programs with a system that guarantees immigrant workers full labor and civil rights protections, and a road to U.S. citizenship. Done together, these reforms will finally restore the rule of law and eliminate an informal labor market that drives down wages and labor protections for all U.S. workers. Read more about the Change to Win and AFL-CIO's Unified Immigration Reform Framework.

http://www.seiu.org/2009/11/seiu-statem ... cities.php

THE SEIU IS WORSE THAN ACORN!

Ratbstard wrote:
THE SEIU IS WORSE THAN ACORN!

They keep telling us that SEIU IS ACORN!