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The former president’s family business accelerated its hiring of foreign workers on short-term work permits this period, even as his administration was creating barriers for other businesses attempting to do the same, an analysis released recently claimed.

Based on data from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to hire at least 184 overseas employees in 2025 for temporary positions at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his winery in Virginia.

The number of applications for H-2A and H-2B visas for staff including waitstaff, clerks, cleaning staff, culinary employees and farm workers was the highest ever submitted by the organization, and up from 121 in the previous term, when his presidency concluded.

It was also the fifth time in 10 years that Trump had sought to hire over a hundred overseas workers for seasonal jobs at his Florida resort, based on labor statistics.

The revelation comes amid a tightening on legal immigration by his administration that has involved the implementation of a $100,000 fee on H1-B visas; increased review of the actions of the 55 million people who already hold US visas; and restrictive new rules for foreign students and journalists.

Overall, the Trump Organization sought to employ 566 foreign laborers over the period Trump has been in the White House, from his first term and during 2025.

Significantly, the former president was criticized by some in the Republican party this week for comments defending the need for overseas employees when a company was unable to find people with “specific talents” to fill certain positions.

“You can’t just say a nation is entering, going to invest billions to construct a plant, and going to take people off an unemployment line who have been unemployed in five years, and they’re going to start making their missiles. It doesn’t work that well,” he told a interviewer after it was implied that overseas employees lower the wages of US workers.

The White House declined a inquiry for response, and the business did not provide an answer to an request for information.