The Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., hired “many” undocumented immigrants, according to a new report outlining a claim that could create political problems for President Trump given his push to curb illegal immigration.
The New York Times reported Thursday that among the illegal immigrants hired there were Victorina Morales of Guatemala and Sandra Diaz of Costa Rica. Housekeepers at the golf resort, the women said that many other housekeeping, maintenance, and landscaping employees are also undocumented immigrants.
“There are many people without papers,” said Diaz, who is now legally in the U.S.
Morales first crossed the border illegally in 1999 and used falsified documents so she could be employed by the golf club. She said Trump’s comments about immigrants are offensive and said immigrants have had enough of the “insults.”
“We are tired of the abuse, the insults, the way he talks about us when he knows that we are here helping him make money,” Morales said. “We sweat it out to attend to his every need and have to put up with his humiliation.”
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Trump or the Trump Organization were aware of their immigration status, the women confessed that several supervisors at the club aided workers from being outed from their jobs due to their immigration status.
The White House declined to comment, but the Trump Organization defended its “very strict hiring practices.”
“We have tens of thousands of employees across our properties and have very strict hiring practices,” Amanda Miller, the Trump Organization’s senior vice president for marketing and corporate communications, said in a statement to the New York Times. “If an employee submitted false documentation in an attempt to circumvent the law, they will be terminated immediately.”
The women contacted the New York Times through their attorney.
The report came as Trump is angling for a $5 billion border wall as Congress gears up to negotiate a massive government funding bill later this month. Both chambers of Congress passed a temporary spending bill on Thursday that will fund the government until Dec. 21, and Democrats will meet with Trump next week to hash out the issue further.
