The former president’s family business accelerated its recruitment of foreign workers on short-term work permits this year, while his government was creating barriers for other companies wanting to do the same, a report published recently stated.
According to data from the federal labor department, the Trump Organization aimed to hire at least 184 overseas employees in the coming year for temporary positions at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his Virginia winery.
The quantity of requests for H-2A and H-2B visas covering workers including waitstaff, office assistants, housekeepers, culinary employees and farm workers was the highest ever filed by the company, and up from over 120 in 2021, when his presidency concluded.
It was also the fifth instance in a decade that Trump had attempted to hire more than 100 overseas workers for seasonal jobs at his Florida resort, according to labor statistics.
The disclosure coincides with a crackdown on immigration laws by his administration that has included the introduction of a $100,000 fee on skilled worker visas; extra scrutiny of the actions of the 55 million people who already hold US visas; and restrictive new rules for foreign students and journalists.
In total, the business sought to hire over 560 overseas workers over the five years Trump has been in the presidency, from 2017 to 2021 and during the upcoming year.
Notably, the former president was criticized by some in the Republican party this period for comments defending the need for overseas employees when a company was unable to find people with “specific talents” to occupy particular roles.
“You cannot just say a country is entering, going to spend billions to build a facility, and going to take people off an jobless roster who haven’t worked in years, and they’re going to start producing their missiles. It isn’t feasible that effectively,” he told a interviewer after she suggested that foreign workers lower the pay of American employees.
The White House declined a inquiry for response, and the business did not provide an answer to an request for information.
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