The Great Immigration Party of Mar-a-Lago

There is something touching about the way Donald Trump proves year after year that no one floods the United States with foreign workers more consistently than he does himself – only in places where it personally benefits him. While he stands on stages talking about “migrant floods” that supposedly “destroy everything,” his own company quietly sets new records. One hundred eighty four foreign workers this year alone – for Mar-a-Lago, his golf clubs, and even a winery that would likely collapse without cheap harvest labor.

One has to picture it: the man who wants to bolt the border shut so that “not a single foreigner comes in” has been importing more people for his private businesses for years than some medium sized American companies. Since 2008, the Trump Organization has requested exactly 2,033 foreign workers through H-2A and H-2B visas. And in 2025 he adds another 184 applications on top – a record year for America’s “anti immigration president.” And these are not highly specialized workers the country urgently needs. No, Trump mainly requires:

• Dishwashers
• Maids
• Waiters
• Kitchen staff
• Farm workers

All jobs he publicly claims are being “taken away from Americans.” Except, of course, in his world, where American workers simply are not good enough to serve the shrimp platter at the golf club.

In fact, Trump has long invented his own golden visa program. The absurd “Trump Gold Cards” – a new instrument offering foreign nationals permanent residency plus a path to citizenship, provided they pay 100,000 dollars for an H-1B visa. It is the most perfect embodiment of his philosophy: immigration is bad, unless it finances him personally.

In his Fox interview with Laura Ingraham, the double standard briefly surfaced. Trump suddenly praised H-1B visas, which he had once wanted to abolish, as “necessary for people with certain talents.” Ingraham halfheartedly pushed back – but she also knows: without foreign labor, Mar-a-Lago would probably have to close in December because no one would be there to clean up the traces of the Halloween party.

Even more telling is which businesses are currently craving new staff. Among the locations now applying for foreign workers are two that were previously searched for allegedly improper handling of classified documents. An investigation that – what a coincidence – was dropped after Trump’s 2024 election victory. Perhaps they simply lacked the maids to properly store the sensitive boxes. Trump continues to control his brand personally through the “Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust” and earns income from each of these businesses while simultaneously serving as president. It is legally questionable, morally grotesque, and politically a gift to every satirist – but ultimately perfectly consistent.

Because no one embodies the phrase “Do as I say, not as I do” with more devotion than Donald Trump, who denounces immigration while remaining his own small, highly efficient importer of cheap labor. Mar-a-Lago as a beacon of the green card – but only for those who make no demands, cannot vote, and cost less than minimum wage in New Jersey. One should almost thank him: rarely has anyone shown so unintentionally clearly where right wing anti immigration policy truly fails. Not in ideology. But in the simple question: who is supposed to make the beds?