Two weeks ago, I told you that four former employees of Donald Trump’s modeling agency claimed that they went out on modeling assignments despite either being on tourist visas or not having any visas at all. In the process, Trump’s image as a hardliner on immigration was exposed as just another fraud from a campaign full of them. Well, a United States Senator now wants an investigation into just how rank the odor is at this agency.
In case you missed it, Mother Jones spoke with three former models for Trump Model Management who claimed that they had been allowed to work without getting proper work visas. They claimed that agency officials actually coached them on what to say to customs officials when asked about what they would do when they came to this country. A fourth made similar claims in a 2014 lawsuit for back pay. This is one of the very things that Trump has railed about from the very start of his campaign. Pot, meet kettle.
When Senator Barbara Boxer saw this article, she hit the ceiling. She spent most of August 31 trolling Trump about the outrages revealed by the Mother Jones investigation.
Apparently Trump never built a wall to keep foreign models from working illegally in this country for low pay. https://t.co/xAMzTWba0c
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) August 31, 2016
When Trump meets with the President of Mexico, will he call for a hole in the wall just for models? https://t.co/7zUZ5dGbJo
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) August 31, 2016
Trump: tough on illegal immigration unless he’s importing foreign models to exploit. https://t.co/eahs6srlDE
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) August 31, 2016
She then fired off a “what the hell is going on here?” letter to U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service director Leon Rodriguez asking him to open a full investigation into Trump Model Management’s employment practices. Boxer told Rodriguez that based on Mother Jones’ reporting, there was evidence that Trump Model Management was guilty of “widespread noncompliance with immigration and labor laws.”
In the week since writing that letter, Boxer had a chance to speak with one of the models featured in the Mother Jones investigation, Rachel Blais. In case you don’t recall, Blais went on several assignments for Trump Model Management while on a tourist visa–which is highly illegal. What Blais told Boxer prompted her to write a letter to Labor Secretary Tom Perez asking for a wider review of Trump Model Management’s practices.
In case you missed it, when Blais worked for Trump Model Management, she was shoehorned into a dormitory-style “models’ apartment” with as many as 11 people crammed into two small bedrooms. They were also charged exorbitant rent–more for one room than the going rate for a whole apartment at the time–and had so many fees deducted from their checks that they were left with almost nothing worth mentioning. A number of her coworkers were as young as 14 years old.
According to Boxer, Blais told her that a number of models were required to appear at Trump Organization events without pay. Boxer also cited published reports from CNN and other outlets that Trump Model Management lied to immigration officials about how much models were being paid, and also failed to pay the “prevailing wage” as required by law.
Boxer wants to know whether Trump Model Management is following laws intended to protect workers from unfair treatment and wage theft, and is particularly concerned about how it treats children. Indeed, she was concerned enough that she added a written note to the second page of her letter.
Apparently Trump knows Boxer has him busted. The man who goes nuclear at the tiniest perceived slight hasn’t said a word in response. Indeed, the closest thing to a formal statement on this matter came two weeks ago, when Mike Pence told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that such “sidebar issues” were better addressed by the Trump Organization.
So when you’re talking about a scandal that is not only centered around the signature issue of Trump’s campaign, but could potentially reveal massive wage theft and child labor violations, we’re only talking about “sidebar issues”? Not from where I’m sitting. Combine this with the other investigations currently centered around Trump, and you have to wonder if the drip drip drip is what will eventually sink him–both as a candidate and as a businessman.
