Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech tonight will probably feature a shit-ton of anti-immigrant lies and some sort of bravado about protecting U.S. workers. But back here in reality, the Trump Organization has been firing undocumented immigrant workers at his golf courses en masse, not because he’s interested in following U.S. law, but because he’s been caught. At least 18 workers have been canned from five locations since December, the Washington Post reports: “The wave of dismissals raises questions about how widely the president’s company has relied on undocumented workers, even as he has denounced illegal immigration in fiery terms and demanded the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
The answer is: a lot, and going back decades. These workers have cleaned and washed Trump’s clothes, prepared food, and tended to the overall upkeep of several of Trump’s clubs, some for years now. Some have said that supervisors knew full well that their documents were fake, and others that supervisors themselves helped them get the papers (investigators now have some of those fake green cards). At least one has made a serious charge of verbal and physical abuse by management. All, however, expose Trump’s rank immigration hypocrisy.
While one of the former workers has been able to adjust her immigration status since her employment at Trump’s Bedminster club, the others remain vulnerable to retaliation from the notoriously thin-skinned president. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who recently met with some of these brave workers, called on the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to protect them during any ongoing investigation of the Trump Organization.
“Because the individuals I met with and others that may step forward appear to be potential witnesses to a crime and may provide the evidence necessary to conduct an appropriate investigation,” Menendez wrote in a letter, “I urge you to consider requesting or supporting authorization for them to remain in the U.S. during your necessary investigation.” At least two of those workers, Victorina Morales and Sandra Diaz, will be face to face with their former employer on Tuesday, as guests at the State of the Union.