Mr Trump, who has been running on the platform of bringing jobs back to the U.S, has hired foreign workers for one of his establishments. Trump has told his supporters that immigrants are ruining the country. He also keeps talking about the wall on the Mexican border.
A labor analysis of Trump’s golf club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida shows that the jobs have been outsourced for years. From 2013 – 2015, the club hired 246 foreign workers and only four Americans. Trump says that he couldn’t find 250 American experienced, qualified workers for the temporary jobs there during tourist season.
Trump brought in foreign staff with the H-2B visa process. In order to be allowed to use that process, the business has to prove that they made an effort to hire American workers first. They must prove that they contacted everyone that responded to ads. They must hire all qualified American workers that they can. Trump claimed that Americans don’t want to work part-time seasonal jobs.
The club was a mansion that Trump bought in the 80’s and turned into a club for the super rich people that come to get away from the cold during the winter. The membership fees are $100,000 and the yearly dues are $14,000.
Tom Veenstra, the senior director at Palm Beach Career Source, a state funded staffing firm, has said that this is just not true. They say that there are hundreds of local, qualified candidates for these jobs. Trump’s staff only used this service to hire one person out of the 250 that the club needed.
One example is 22-year-old Renee Seymore. She has experience as a waitress, so she applied to work at Mar-a-Lago. She told them that she had no problems with working a seasonal job. She was never hired; they didn’t even formally turn her down for the job. She had an in-person interview, but wasn’t contacted again after that. There is no convincing her that Trump couldn’t find local help.
Featured image found via Twitter
