Trump’s Mar-a-Lago wants to hire dozens of foreigners

[Carmen Elsa Irarragorri Wyland]

Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s self-described “Winter White House,“ asked the feds’ permission to hire 61 temporary foreign workers as cooks, waiters and waitresses — despite his repeated knocks on immigrants and cries to “Hire American!”

The hires come as Trump is mired in an epic battle with Congress over immigration reform, is fighting to have his wall built on the southern border and has faced heat over the separation of nearly 3,000 migrant children from families illegally crossing that border.

The request for the foreign workers was included in records posted by the Department of Labor on Thursday and was first reported by BuzzFeed News.

While the president has pushed American companies with foreign operations to relocate to the US, and for all American companies to hire US workers, he has defended hiring temporary foreign workers by claiming that it’s “very, very hard to get help” during the Florida tourist season.

The workers would come in under the H-2 visa program, which lets US employers hire guest workers under temporary visas if no qualified American workers want the jobs.

Since Trump launched his presidential campaign at Trump Tower in June 2015, his businesses or those bearing his name have sought to hire more than 480 foreign guest workers, including more than 240 for Mar-a-Lago, the website reported.

If Labor green-lights the requests, the club will be allowed to employ the workers from October 2018 through May 2019 — the height of the tourist season for his Palm Beach golf club and resort.

The 40 wait staff jobs would pay $12.68 per hour — $4.43 over Florida’s $8.25 minimum wage — and be eligible for overtime. The 21 cooks would earn slightly higher wage of #13.31 per hour.

The request to hire foreign workers is one of several examples of Trump’s rhetoric on immigration not squaring with his and his companies’ actions.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, in April 2017, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to put the “Buy American, Hire American” rhetoric of his campaign into practice.

“The buy and hire American order I’m about to sign will protect workers and students like you,” Trump told students and employees at the headquarters of Snap-On Tools, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer, CNN reported.

“It’s America first, you better believe it. It’s time. It’s time, right?”

Trump said the order would “aggressively promote and use American-made goods and to ensure that American labor is hired to do the job.”

But many of Trump’s signature product line and amenities in his hotels are made abroad, including clothing from Asia, Mexico and Central America.

Likewise, first daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing and lifestyle lines are manufactured in low-wage countries including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Last November, Trump got the OK from Labor to hire 70 cooks, maids and servers to work at Mar-a-Lago for the tourist season.

[Carmen Elsa Irarragorri Wyland]

Yes, indeed, exactly!