NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
July 28, 2016
Donald Trump wants to bring jobs back to America — and some foreign workers to fill them.
Trump is looking to hire 78 servers, housekeepers, and cooks for his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the nearby Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, according to Federal labor records.
As he has for years, the Republican presidential nominee filed this month to import foreign workers for the jobs instead of hiring Americans, Buzzfeed News first reported Wednesday.
Department of Labor records show Trump has sought H-2 visas for hundreds of foreigners to fill temporary positions at the two properties in recent years.
The visas are issued through a legal program that allows employers to temporarily hire foreign workers when there are no Americans available to do the work.
But hundreds of U.S. applicants either applied or were referred for the jobs, but only a handful were hired, the New York Times reported in February.
Since 2010, nearly 300 U.S. residents applied or were referred for jobs as waiters, waitresses, cooks and housekeepers there, but only 17 were hired, according to The Times.
Over the same time period, 500 visas for foreign workers were filed at Mar-a-Lago.
Laurel Baker, the executive director of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, said the practice was common at seasonal seaside properties.
“That’s something that appears to happen at all of the hotels or resorts,” Baker said. “The argument is that there are few locals available to do the work. This is more of a resort community.”
Trump’s two properties are looking to hire 37 waiters and waitresses, who will be paid $11.13 an hour, and 26 cooks, who will earn $12.74 an hour. Additionally, Mar-a-Lago needs 15 $10.17-an-hour housekeepers.
The opulent luxury resort has sought 787 foreign workers since 2006, according to federal data.
Trump snatched up the lavish 114-room mansion, formerly owned by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, for $10 million in 1985.
The private members-only club has membership fees of $100,000 with annual dues of $14,000.
The tycoon told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in September that “getting help in Palm Beach during the season is almost impossible.”
Officials at a local jobs agency disagreed.
Last year, Tom Veenstra, a senior director at Palm Beach’s career services center, told BuzzFeed News that he had “hundreds of people in our database that would qualify for a lot of those hospitality jobs.”
Veenstra said his agency, which is chartered by the state of Florida, has a database of 1,327 Palm Beach County residents interested in server, cook, and chef positions.
Critics of the H-2 visa program blasted Trump, but said he’s only taking advantage of a poorly planned system that allows businesses to pass over American workers for foreigners who will work for lower wages, can’t unionize, and can’t leave for another job.
“It is almost like indentured servitude. This is so preposterous,” Greg Schell, a lawyer in Palm Beach County who specializes in helping migrant farm workers and labor violations. “If they wanted to find American, there are Americans willing to do this work.”
Trump and other resort owners “are only required to do the bare minimum of advertising for the job postings,” Schell said, before they can turn to the visa program.
Once hired, employers are obligated to pay for workers’ transportation to the U.S. and any recruitment fees. The visas are valid for 10 months, but can be extended to three years, balancing the cost to the businesses.
The Government Accountability Office published a report last year that found workers in the country on H-2A and H-2B visas have experienced abuse, including being charged illegal recruiting fees, substandard housing and low pay.
“The whole program that operates in the hospitality industry is indefensible,” he added.
Trump’s reliance on foreign labor directly contradicts his fiery campaign rhetoric and his stated policy on the issue.
He has repeatedly pledged “put American workers first” and has blasted President Obama on unemployment numbers.
“The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans — including immigrants themselves and their children — to earn a middle class wage,” says a statement on Trump’s campaign website.
Trump owns companies that have sought to import at least 1,100 foreign workers on temporary visas since 2000, according to U.S. Department of Labor data reviewed by Reuters. Most of the applications were approved, the data show.
Fellow billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted Trump’s hiring practices at the Democratic National Convention.
“He says he wants to put Americans back to work, but he games the U.S. visa system so he can hire temporary foreign workers at low wages,” Bloomberg said.
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