Here’s what we know…
In 2023, Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate employed more than 100 foreign workers, which has raised eyebrows given Trump’s firm stance on immigration.
Trump, poised to be the Republican presidential nominee, has long championed tougher border security. A key element of his political career, beginning with his 2016 campaign, has been advocating for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, critics point out that Trump’s businesses, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, have historically depended on foreign labor, a practice seemingly at odds with his presidential immigration policies.
It is not uncommon for businesses to hire foreign workers, especially when domestic workers are unavailable or unwilling to take on certain roles. In 2023, Mar-a-Lago brought in 136 foreign workers for seasonal positions, according to Department of Labor records.
The estate requested foreign workers for several roles: 53 waiters and waitresses, seven hotel desk clerks, 17 housekeeping cleaners, five supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, 24 cooks, and five bartenders. All but one request for a waiter or waitress position was approved. These applications were submitted on July 3, 2023, to cover employment from October 2023 through the end of May 2024.
These workers were hired under the H-2B visa program, which is intended for non-agricultural jobs. According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), employers must demonstrate that there are not enough U.S. workers who are “able, willing, qualified, and available” to perform the temporary work. Employers must also ensure that the employment of H-2B workers will not negatively affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers and that the need for these workers is temporary.
In July 2023, Florida’s unemployment rate was 2.9%, lower than the national average of 3.5%, as reported by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
Despite Trump’s public stance on reducing immigration, his businesses have increasingly relied on foreign labor. Forbes reported that Trump’s enterprises employed 170 foreign workers last year and have hired a total of at least 1,670 temporary foreign workers since 2008.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration issued an executive order in June 2020 that limited several employment-based visas, including H-1B, H-2B, J-1, and L-1 visas, due to the surge in unemployment across the U.S.
