For the third time since December, another business owned by Donald Trump has fired longtime undocumented immigrant workers, one of whom had worked at Trump’s Pine Hill, New Jersey, golf club for years. “Just like that, I got fired,” said cook Victor Reyes. Like other undocumented workers recently fired by the Trump Organization, Reyes said management knew about his status.
“The manager called me and asked, ‘Victor, are you legal?’” Reyes, who is originally from Mexico, told the New York Times. “I said, ‘No, I am not legal.’ It surprised me because I knew he knew that I was illegal. I have worked for him 16 years and then he asks me.” The firings follow mass dismissals at Trump’s Westchester, New York, golf club, where workers were canned as Trump was shutting down the U.S. government over his stupid border wall.
One former worker alleged that in 2008, management told him to get more authentic-looking fake documents because his current ones didn’t pass the smell test. He continued working there until last month, when he was fired. Hiring undocumented immigrants “didn’t matter,” a former manager told The Washington Post. But to those of us fighting for dignity and justice for America’s immigrants, they do matter.
Some of the brave workers who have stepped forward will be guests of members of Congress at Trump’s State of the Union speech this week, including Victorina Morales, who has alleged physical and verbal abuse at the hands of management at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Both legislators and attorneys are now warning his administration to not retaliate against the ex-employees. "All of them, I consider, are material witnesses to a federal crime,” said attorney Anibal Romero, “and any attempt to remove them from the U.S. could possibly be obstruction of justice.”
It’s a fact that U.S. industries, like agriculture and hospitality services, run because of the back-breaking work of undocumented immigrant labor, and these workers must be protected from exploitation and abuse—including that at the hands of businesses owned by the president. Trump launched his presidential campaign by accusing immigrants of being criminals, but this just takes the hypocrisy level to Space Force heights.