Trump Organization uses construction company that employs undocumented workers: report

The Trump Organization over the past several years has been using a construction company that hires undocumented workers, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Two former crew members told the newspaper that construction employees who entered the country illegally have worked at Trump Organization properties, and an employee who is still with the company said the hiring practices have continued to this day.

{mosads}President Trump “doesn’t want undocumented people in the country,” worker Jorge Castro, who is undocumented and left the company in April, told the Post. “But at his properties, he still has them.”

Castro said he worked at seven Trump properties, and he provided the newspaper with paystubs from the construction company, Mobile Payroll Construction LLC.

Construction worker Edmundo Morocho told the Post that a Trump property supervisor instructed him to purchase false identity documents.

A Trump Organization spokeswoman told the Post that Mobile Payroll Construction uses E-Verify to check new hires’ eligibility to work in the U.S., although the company was not listed in E-Verify’s database, which was updated July 1.

The firm told the newspaper that “since this issue was first brought to our attention, we have taken diligent steps, including the use of E-Verify at all of our properties and companies.”

In a statement to The Hill, a Trump Organization spokesperson said: “Where an employee is found to have provided fake or fraudulent documentation to unlawfully gain employment, that individual will be terminated. Fortunately, among the thousands of individuals employed by our organization, we have encountered very few instances where this has occurred.”

Workers told the Post, however, that supervisors did not pay much attention to employees’ immigration status.

“If you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter,” Castro said.

Luis Sigua, an immigrant who is part of the crew but did not share his immigration status with the Post, said some construction workers are undocumented. 

“Some yes, some no,” he said.

The report follows others who have alleged that the Trump Organization has used undocumented workers even as the president takes a hard-line stance on immigration.

Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids in Mississippi that led to 680 arrests.

Trump’s immigration rhetoric has also come under increased scrutiny after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, last weekend left 22 dead. The suspected shooter allegedly posted a manifesto before the shooting that warned of a “Hispanic invasion.”