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Does the Trump Organization currently employ undocumented immigrants?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows recent, documented use of legal foreign-worker visas by the Trump Organization—184 H‑2A/H‑2B visa requests in 2025 and at least 566 foreign-labor requests across Mr. Trump’s time in office—while several outlets and investigations also report past instances in which Trump‑owned properties employed undocumented workers and later fired them [1] [2] [3] [4]. Sources do not provide a definitive, contemporaneous payroll roster that proves whether the Trump Organization currently employs undocumented immigrants at this moment; instead the public record contains visa‑application data, past investigative findings and reports of later firings [1] [4] [5].
1. Visa requests: record numbers and what they mean
Department of Labor filings show the Trump Organization sought 184 temporary foreign workers in 2025 through H‑2A and H‑2B programs—its highest annual total—and Forbes and The Hill report the company filed for at least 566 foreign laborers across recent years [1] [2]. Those H‑2A/H‑2B filings indicate a legal effort to hire seasonal workers for roles such as servers, kitchen staff, housekeepers and vineyard labor; a request for a visa is not the same as an employed, on‑the‑ground worker, because H‑2 petitions must advance through DOL certification, DHS adjudication and State Department consular processing [2].
2. Past reporting of undocumented workers at Trump properties
Longstanding investigative reporting documents that Trump properties previously employed undocumented immigrants: a Washington Post investigation found about a dozen undocumented workers at a Trump golf course who were later fired, and PBS/Newshour summarized that reporting [4]. Local reporting from Charlottesville also described firings of undocumented workers at Trump Winery as recently as about a year after earlier revelations [5]. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) notes the Trump Organization has a “history of hiring undocumented immigrants” alongside use of legal seasonal‑worker pathways [3].
3. Distinguishing documented visa use from undocumented employment
The most concrete, current data in the public record are visa petitions and DOL filings—not employment rosters showing undocumented employees. Multiple outlets (Forbes, The Hill, The Guardian, The Independent) have focused on the rise in H‑2 filings by the Trump Organization in 2025, which demonstrates active use of legal seasonal‑worker channels but does not establish whether undocumented workers are currently on payrolls [1] [2] [6] [7]. Conversely, past documented instances of undocumented hires at Trump properties show the company has previously employed such workers, but those accounts refer to earlier years and to subsequent firings or remediation steps [4] [5].
4. Political context and competing narratives
Reporting highlights a political tension: while the Trump administration has pursued restrictive immigration and deportation policies, his family business has concurrently sought temporary foreign labor—an apparent contradiction emphasized in coverage and advocacy reporting [6] [3]. Critics and watchdog groups frame the filings and past undocumented‑worker findings as evidence of hypocrisy; the company and some defenders argue that visa petitions reflect legal hiring practices and legitimate business needs [2] [1]. Different outlets emphasize either the volume of legal visa requests or historical episodes involving undocumented workers, producing competing interpretations.
5. Limits of available reporting and what is not in the record
Available sources do not publish a current, itemized employee list proving whether undocumented immigrants are presently employed by the Trump Organization; they provide visa‑application totals, past investigative accounts, and reports of discreet firings [1] [4] [5]. There is no public source in the provided set that confirms or disproves “right now” undocumented employment within Trump Organization payrolls—so a definitive statement of present employment status is not supported by the cited documents (not found in current reporting).
6. What questions remain and what evidence would settle them
To determine current undocumented employment, one would need contemporaneous primary evidence: company payroll records, I‑9/E‑Verify match results, DHS/ICE enforcement findings, or on‑the‑record admissions from the Trump Organization. The provided coverage suggests past undocumented hires and active use of temporary foreign‑worker visas, but it stops short of producing a real‑time verification of undocumented employees on payrolls [4] [1] [3].
Summary conclusion: reporting establishes two facts backed by the provided sources—[8] the Trump Organization filed for a record number of temporary foreign workers in 2025 [9] and at least 566 over recent years [1] [2], and [10] reputable investigations and local reporting have documented past employment of undocumented workers at Trump properties and subsequent firings [4] [5] [3]. However, available reporting in this document set does not provide a current, definitive payroll‑level account to say whether undocumented immigrants are employed there at this precise moment (not found in current reporting).