Donald Trump hires mostly foreign seasonal workers at his Florida club

Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lagos private club in Florida has consistently hired many more foreign workers than U.S. residents for seasonal jobs, the New York Times reports, despite Trump’s anti-foreign worker rhetoric.

According to records Mar-a-Lago submitted to the Labor Department, it had received at least 296 local names for 520 seasonal jobs since 2010. Some applied directly to the club; others were referred through a job placement service.

Mar-a-Lago hired 17, about 6% of the local applicants, the records show.

By contrast, the club has filed visa applications for more than 500 workers from overseas, the newspaper reports.

Since 2000, Trump’s companies have filed applications with the Department of Labor to employ at least 1,100 foreign workers on temporary working visas, Reuters reported last year.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has said that he’s committed to “bringing jobs back” to American workers. “I’ll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places. I’ll bring back our jobs, and I’ll bring back our money,” he said when he announced he was running for president.

The same Reuters report found that 850 of the 1,100 visas requested by Trump companies since 2000 have been H2Bs, a visa category most commonly used to hire Mexican workers.

Trump famously called Mexicans “rapists” and blamed Mexican immigrants for drugs and crime last year, sparking a backlash from some of the Mexican workers in his businesses. He later said that those comments were directed specifically towards undocumented immigrants.

“Many fabulous people come in from Mexico and our country is better for it. But these people are here legally, and are severely hurt by those coming in illegally,” Trump said. “I am proud to say that I know many hard working Mexicans—many of them are working for and with me…and, just like our country, my organization is better for it.”

In defense of his company’s hiring practices at Mar-a-Lago, Trump has said that it’s difficult to find local workers during peak season at the club. That’s been disputed by Palm Beach locals involved in the hospitality industry and some of the people Mar-a-Lago has not employed, who told the Times they think resorts tend to hire foreign workers because they can avoid giving them raises and benefits.