Trump Organization Sought to Bring In Almost 200 Employees on Visas in 2025
The former president’s family business accelerated its hiring of foreign workers on short-term work permits this year, even as his government was creating barriers for other businesses wanting to do the same, a report released recently claimed.
Based on information from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to hire at least nearly 200 foreign workers in the coming year for short-term roles at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his Virginia winery.
The quantity of applications for H-2A and H-2B visas covering workers including waitstaff, clerks, housekeepers, kitchen staff and agricultural laborers was the highest ever submitted by the company, and increased from over 120 in 2021, when Trump’s first term concluded.
It was also the fifth instance in 10 years that the former president had attempted to hire over a hundred foreign employees for temporary positions at his Florida resort, according to labor statistics.
The disclosure coincides with a tightening on legal immigration by his administration that has included the introduction of a substantial charge on skilled worker visas; extra scrutiny of the actions of the 55 million people who already hold American work permits; and tighter regulations for foreign students and reporters.
In total, the business aimed to hire 566 foreign laborers over the five years Trump has been in the presidency, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Significantly, the former president was questioned by certain in the GOP this week for comments defending the need for overseas employees when a company was unable to find people with “specific talents” to fill particular roles.
“You can’t just say a nation is entering, going to spend billions to build a facility, and going to recruit individuals off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years, and they’re going to start making their defense systems. It isn’t feasible that effectively,” he told a interviewer after it was implied that foreign workers undercut the pay of American employees.
The White House declined a inquiry for response, and the business did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
