MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A longtime attorney for a nonprofit has been named chief deputy attorney general in Minnesota.

Attorney General-elect Keith Ellison announced Friday that John Keller will serve as the second-ranking attorney in the office. Keller has worked at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota since 1998 and has been the group's executive director since 2005.

Keller received his law degree from Hamline University in 1996. He worked at the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Court of Appeals before joining the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

Ellison says Keller has a "deep grassroots understanding of the struggles that all Minnesotans face."

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