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Did trump hire illegals on any of his properties?
Executive summary
Reporting spanning 2016–2025 documents multiple instances where Trump Organization properties employed people who lacked legal work authorization or where contractors used undocumented labor — including claims that more than 100 undocumented workers were used at Bedminster during construction and that a roving construction crew with undocumented members worked on many Trump properties [1] [2]. Investigations led the Trump Organization to say it would use E‑Verify and to fire some workers after audits; the company also sought hundreds of seasonal foreign worker visas in later years [3] [2] [4].
1. Early allegations: Trump Tower and demolition-era claims
Long before the presidency, reporting and court testimony raised questions about undocumented workers on projects tied to Donald Trump — Time reported disputes over whether Polish workers on a demolition that led to Trump Tower were undocumented and whether Trump knew about it [5]. Available sources do not provide a definitive contemporaneous admission by Trump about hiring those workers; Time summarizes competing accounts and denials [5].
2. Washington Post series: a roving construction crew and many interviews
A multi‑year Washington Post investigation — summarized in several outlets — found that a mobile construction crew (Mobile Payroll Construction LLC) that worked on Trump Organization properties included immigrants without legal status; The Post interviewed dozens of such workers and cited examples across properties from New York to Florida [2] [3]. One on‑the‑record worker said “if you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter,” and The Post reported that 43 undocumented immigrants were interviewed about employment at Trump properties [2] [3].
3. Bedminster and other resort properties: scale of undocumented labor
Reporting says dozens of undocumented immigrants worked at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.; The Washington Post and aggregators reported that at one time "more than 100" undocumented workers were employed there during construction, based on interviews with former workers [1]. Separate accounts describe room cleaners at a New Jersey Trump resort who said they used false papers to get hired and alleged supervisors knew many employees lacked documents [6].
4. Company response: audits, firings and E‑Verify claims
Following the reporting, the Trump Organization said it would begin using E‑Verify to check employees’ legal status and carried out audits that it said led to firings — outlets report the company fired at least 18 people in one round of audits and publicly committed to E‑Verify [3] [2]. However, reporting also noted that Mobile Payroll Construction was claiming to use E‑Verify while not being listed on the public E‑Verify database at a given update [7].
5. Use of legal temporary foreign worker programs alongside undocumented hires
Beyond undocumented labor, reporting and advocacy groups documented extensive use of legal guest‑worker visas by the Trump Organization. CREW and Forbes reported the company sought H‑2A/H‑2B temporary foreign workers — Forbes counted at least 184 visa requests in 2025 and a total of 2,033 requests since 2008 — showing the organization has both pursued legal channels and, per reporting, relied on undocumented workers at times [8] [4].
6. Competing narratives and political context
Multiple outlets note the political incongruity: while Trump campaigned and governed on restricting undocumented immigration, his businesses allegedly hired undocumented workers and sought foreign worker visas [9] [10]. The Trump Organization has publicly framed its actions as instituting stricter checks and relying on contractors; investigative reporting and worker testimony present the opposing view that undocumented labor was used systemically [2] [3] [9].
7. What the records definitively show — and what they don’t
Available, cited reporting documents interviews with many undocumented workers at Trump properties, contractor arrangements that included undocumented labor, and company statements about E‑Verify and firings after audits [2] [3] [1]. Sources do not provide a single, conclusive payroll ledger signed by Donald Trump personally that proves direct hiring by Trump himself; instead, the record shows contractors and the Trump Organization’s properties employed undocumented workers per multiple investigations and interviews [3] [2].
8. Takeaway and implications for accountability
If the journalistic record is taken together, it establishes that Trump Organization properties and contractors employed undocumented workers over many years, prompted company audits and public commitments to verify work eligibility, and concurrently used legal visa programs — a mixed picture that fuels critiques of hypocrisy and raises questions about contractor oversight and enforcement [2] [3] [4]. Further legal or administrative records — not included in the supplied sources — would be needed to map exact hiring chains, corporate responsibility, or criminal liability; available sources do not mention such records.