Trump Business Sought to Bring In Nearly 200 Employees on Work Permits in 2025
Donald Trump’s family business accelerated its recruitment of overseas employees on short-term work permits this year, even as his administration was creating barriers for other companies wanting to do the identical, an analysis published recently claimed.
Based on information from the federal labor department, the business sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers in 2025 for temporary positions at the US president’s Florida property, two golf clubs and his winery in Virginia.
The number of requests for H-2A and H-2B visas covering staff including waitstaff, clerks, housekeepers, culinary employees and agricultural laborers was the highest ever submitted by the organization, and increased from over 120 in the previous term, when his presidency ended.
It was also the fifth instance in 10 years that the former president had attempted to hire over a hundred foreign employees for temporary positions at his Florida resort, according to available data.
The disclosure comes amid a tightening on immigration laws by his administration that has included the implementation of a $100,000 fee on H1-B visas; increased review of the activities of the 55 million people who already hold US visas; and tighter regulations for foreign students and journalists.
Overall, the business sought to hire 566 foreign laborers over the period Trump has been in the presidency, from 2017 to 2021 and during 2025.
Notably, Trump was criticized by certain in the GOP this week for comments defending the need for overseas employees when a company was unable to find people with “particular skills” to occupy particular roles.
“You can’t just say a nation is entering, going to spend $10bn to build a plant, and going to recruit individuals off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years, and they’re going to start making their defense systems. It doesn’t work that well,” he stated to a interviewer after it was implied that overseas employees lower the wages of American employees.
The White House declined a request for comment, and the business did not provide an answer to an request for information.
