Immigration advocate Sandra Diaz has slammed the impeached president’s State of the Union speech as nothing but anti-immigrant fearmongering and lies—and she knows this first-hand. “Like hundreds of other undocumented immigrants, I worked for Donald Trump when I was undocumented,” she said in a statement received by Daily Kos. “I know from experience that he continues to lie about immigrants, like last night in his speech.”
Diaz worked at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey for several years before bravely stepping forward to share her story in 2018, along with her fellow housekeeper, Victorina Morales. “He knows immigrants, many undocumented, kept his businesses running for decades,” Diaz continued. “We did many tough jobs. We cooked, fed and cared for him, his friends, White House staff, and his family.”
Yet Trump used his authoritarian speech on Tuesday night to continue demonizing immigrants even as he’s exploiting them behind the scenes, Diaz said. In just one recent example, Trump’s Virginia winery not only exploited undocumented workers, but also fired them after the grape harvest was over and the Trump Organization had gotten what it needed. “Trump exploited so many of us for profit now he exploits us for politics,” Diaz said. “He and his family know he’s wrong. It’s cruel and it’s sickening.”
What’s also cruel and sickening is that Trump would rail about immigrants being able to access health care (like they don’t have bodies or already contribute billions in taxes) when he and his businesses have hired many of them to harvest grapes at that winery, manage the upkeep of his golf resorts, help construct his buildings, care for his family’s needs, and work so close to him that they cleaned the makeup off his shirt collars (“Bronx Colors-brand face makeup from Switzerland,” for the curious).
Donald Trump is a liar, that we all know, but the hypocrisy is just astounding, and it’s brave people like Sandra and Victorina that are helping expose it. “We came to America to save our families from harm and to be part of the American Dream,” Diaz said. “We work hard, ask for nothing, only decency and respect.”
