Trump Organization Attempted to Bring In Nearly 200 Employees on Visas in 2025
The former president’s family business accelerated its recruitment of foreign workers on temporary visas this period, even as his administration was placing obstacles for other companies wanting to do the same, a report published Thursday claimed.
Based on data from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to hire at least 184 foreign workers in the coming year for short-term roles at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, two golf clubs and his winery in Virginia.
The number of requests for temporary work visas covering workers including waitstaff, clerks, housekeepers, culinary employees and farm workers was the record submitted by the organization, and up from over 120 in 2021, when his presidency ended.
It was also the fifth instance in a decade that Trump had sought to hire more than 100 foreign employees for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, according to labor statistics.
The disclosure comes amid a tightening on legal immigration by his government that has included the implementation of a $100,000 fee on skilled worker visas; increased review of the activities of the 55 million people who possess American work permits; and restrictive new rules for foreign students and reporters.
In total, the Trump Organization sought to hire 566 foreign laborers over the five years Trump has been in the White House, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Significantly, the former president was criticized by some in the Republican party this period for remarks justifying the necessity for overseas employees when a business was unable to find people with “particular skills” to fill particular roles.
“You can’t just say a country is entering, going to spend $10bn to build a facility, and going to recruit individuals off an unemployment line who have been unemployed in years, and they’re going to start making their missiles. It isn’t feasible that well,” he told a interviewer after she suggested that overseas employees lower the wages of US workers.
The White House refused a request for response, and the Trump Organization did not provide an answer to an request for information.
