Immigration

Trump’s Clubs Force Immigrants to Work Without Pay, New York AG Investigating

Written by SK Ashby

We know that Trump's clubs and properties have hired undocumented immigrants, including some who were picked up off the street, but his clubs have also been forcing them to work overtime without paying them for it according to the Washington Post.

Unknown to us until now, the New York attorney general's office is investigating a wide range of labor violations at Trump's golf club in Briar­cliff Manor, New York, where undocumented employees say they were taken advantage of.

One employee who spoke to the Washington Post says he was often ordered to clock out for the night and then keep working without pay; violations of labor law that he detailed to New York state prosecutors in February.

On some nights, after the club’s Grille Room closed, head waiter Jose Gabriel Juarez — an undocumented immigrant from Mexico — was told to clock out. He pressed his index finger onto a scanner and typed his personal code, 436.

But he didn’t go home.

Instead — on orders from his bosses, Juarez said — he would stay on, sometimes past midnight. He vacuumed carpets, polished silverware and helped get the restaurant at Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Briar­cliff Manor, N.Y., ready for breakfast the next day. [...]

The Trump Organization has denied the allegations, and workers who spoke to The Post did not keep paper records of the extra hours they said they worked.

But Juarez was among nearly 30 former employees at Trump’s golf courses in New York who met with prosecutors in February. They handed over pay stubs and W-2 forms and answered questions about their salaries, hours, tips and lack of benefits in one-on-one interviews over many hours, according to several workers. Some have follow-up meetings scheduled in coming weeks.

I feel like I say this at least once a week but -- again -- this is everything the people who voted for Trump say they oppose.

He hires undocumented immigrants, he hires immigrants off the street, he pays them less and offers them fewer benefits, and he forces them to work for free. When Trump and those who support him talk about immigrants taking jobs away from Americans, they're talking about themselves. They are the people hiring undocumented immigrants and they also want you to believe they are the solution.

Trump himself may be out of reach of prosecutors as long as he remains in the oval office, but his businesses are under the jurisdiction of state authorities who can take him to the cleaners.

Trump may feel like the king of the world right now, but the next decade of state investigations, civil lawsuits, and financial losses may make him regret everything he's ever done.