Trump's Business Attempted to Hire Nearly 200 Employees on Visas in 2025
Donald Trump’s family business increased its hiring of overseas employees on short-term work permits this year, even as his administration was creating barriers for other businesses wanting to do the same, a report released Thursday claimed.
Based on data from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to bring in at least nearly 200 foreign workers in the coming year for temporary positions at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his Virginia winery.
The quantity of applications for H-2A and H-2B visas covering staff including servers, clerks, cleaning staff, culinary employees and farm workers was the record submitted by the company, and up from 121 in 2021, when his presidency concluded.
It was also the fifth time in 10 years that Trump had attempted to hire more than 100 foreign employees for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, based on labor statistics.
The revelation coincides with a crackdown on immigration laws by his government that has involved the implementation of a substantial charge on skilled worker visas; extra scrutiny of the actions of the millions of people who already hold American work permits; and restrictive new rules for foreign students and journalists.
Overall, the Trump Organization aimed to hire 566 foreign laborers over the period the former president has been in the White House, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Notably, the former president was criticized by some in the GOP this week for comments justifying the need for foreign workers when a company was unable to find people with “particular skills” to fill certain positions.
“You cannot just say a country is entering, going to invest $10bn to build a plant, and going to take people off an jobless roster who haven’t worked in five 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 pay of US workers.
The administration refused a request for response, and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to an request for information.