Mar-a-Lago hires 136 new foreign workers as Trump seeks immigration crackdown

Mar-a-Lago hired more than 100 foreign workers last year as Donald Trump promises to restrict immigration and round up undocumented migrants for deportation.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee's businesses have long relied on foreign workers, and last year Mar-a-Lago asked the Department of Labor for authorization to hire a total of 136 foreign workers for seasonal work, and all but one request was accepted, reported Newsweek.

The Labor Department showed requests for 53 waiters and waitresses, seven hotel desk clerks, 17 housekeeping cleaners, five first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, 24 cooks and five bartenders.

These workers were requested on F-2B visas that apply to workers in nonagricultural positions and require employers to show there aren't enough American workers who are willing and able to do that temporary work, and they must also prove the workers won't adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similar U.S. employees.

The number of foreign workers increased at Trump-owned businesses last year, according to Forbes, which reported that the former president's businesses hired 170 foreign workers in 2023 and at least 1,670 temporary foreign workers since 2008.

The former president's administration limited some employment-based visas in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the H-2B visas enjoyed by Mar-a-Lago.