Trump's Business Sought to Hire Almost 200 Workers on Work Permits in 2025
Donald Trump’s family business accelerated its recruitment of foreign workers on short-term work permits this period, even as his administration was placing obstacles for other companies wanting to do the same, an analysis published Thursday claimed.
Based on data from the US Department of Labor, the Trump Organization aimed to hire at least 184 foreign workers in the coming year for short-term roles at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his winery in Virginia.
The number of applications for H-2A and H-2B visas for staff including servers, clerks, housekeepers, kitchen staff and agricultural laborers was the record filed by the company, and up from over 120 in 2021, when his presidency ended.
It was also the fifth instance in a decade that the former president had sought to hire over a hundred foreign employees for seasonal jobs at Mar-a-Lago, based on available data.
The revelation comes amid a crackdown on legal immigration by his administration that has involved the implementation of a substantial charge on skilled worker visas; increased review of the activities of the millions of people who possess American work permits; and tighter regulations for international scholars and journalists.
Overall, the Trump Organization aimed to employ over 560 foreign laborers over the five years the former president has been in the presidency, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Significantly, Trump was criticized by certain in the GOP this period for comments justifying the need for foreign workers when a company was unable to find people with “particular skills” to fill particular roles.
“You can’t just say a nation is coming in, going to invest $10bn to build a facility, and going to take people off an unemployment line who have been unemployed in years, and they’re going to start making their defense systems. It doesn’t work that effectively,” he stated to a host after she suggested that foreign workers lower the pay of US workers.
The administration declined a inquiry for comment, and the Trump Organization did not provide an answer to an request for information.
