A Cleveland, Tenn., furniture company has fired an undisclosed number of employees after auditors from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flagged some employees' documents as suspect.

Jackson Furniture Industries employs 900 people in Tenneseee. Director of Human Resources Todd DeLuca declined to say how many employees were dismissed. Some plant workers estimated as many as 200 workers have left, but DeLuca would not confirm that number.

"We've still got some internal investigation to do, so we''re not going to put out a number," he said.

After the I-9 inspection several weeks ago, employees were notified if their documents had been flagged by ICE as suspect.

"We gave them the opportunity to verify the documents and if they couldn't, then they were dismissed, DeLuca said. He added that the family-owned company followed appropriate hiring procedures and is cooperating with ICE.

For more details, read tomorrow's Times Free Press.