The former president’s family business increased its recruitment of foreign workers on short-term work permits this year, while his administration was creating barriers for other companies wanting to do the identical, an analysis published Thursday stated.
According to data from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to bring in at least nearly 200 foreign workers in 2025 for short-term roles at the US president’s Florida property, golf facilities and his Virginia winery.
The number of applications for temporary work visas covering staff including waitstaff, office assistants, housekeepers, culinary employees and farm workers was the highest ever submitted by the company, and up from over 120 in the previous term, when his presidency ended.
It was also the fifth instance in 10 years that Trump had sought to hire more than 100 overseas workers for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, based on available data.
The revelation coincides with a crackdown on immigration laws by his administration that has involved the introduction of a $100,000 fee on H1-B visas; extra scrutiny of the actions of the millions of people who possess US visas; and restrictive new rules for foreign students and journalists.
In total, the Trump Organization aimed to employ over 560 foreign laborers over the five years Trump has been in the presidency, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Notably, the former president was criticized by some in the Republican party this week for remarks defending the need for overseas employees when a company was unable to find people with “specific talents” to fill particular roles.
“You cannot just say a country is entering, going to spend billions to construct a plant, and going to take people off an unemployment line who have been unemployed in years, and they’re going to start making their missiles. It isn’t feasible that effectively,” he stated to a host after she suggested that foreign workers undercut the wages of American employees.
The administration refused a request for comment, and the Trump Organization did not provide an answer to an inquiry.
