In 1993, President Bill Clinton’s nomination of Zoe Baird for US Attorney General fell apart when it was revealed that she and her husband had employed two undocumented immigrants from Peru as a nanny and chauffeur for her young child. In addition, they had not paid Social Security taxes for the two workers.
“Nannygate” was born, public opinion was fiercely against Baird and her nomination was soon withdrawn.
Then Clinton’s choice of federal judge Kimba Wood was kicked out because she had employed an undocumented immigrant to look after her child, even though she had done so when this was legal.
Now it’s looking like supervisors at Trump’s National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, employed undocumented immigrants and gave out fake green cards — but nobody seems to be paying attention.
Why is this not front-page news? Where is the public outrage in 2019? Have we become so inured to Trump’s lies and cruelties that we don’t care any more?
On December 6, 2018, the New York Times published a story about Victorina Morales, from Guatemala, and Sandra Diaz, a native of Costa Rica, who worked as undocumented immigrants at Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
The two women said they had worked for years as housekeepers at the property, making Trump’s bed and cleaning his toilets among other chores. They believe they were two of a number of undocumented workers, although they were unsure of exactly how many.
Morales and Diaz came forward because they were “tired of the abuse, the insults, the way he talks about us when he knows we are helping him make money. We sweat it out to attend to his every need and have to put up with his humiliation.”
Did Trump know about the legal status of his employees?
According to The New York Times:
During the presidential campaign, when the Trump International Hotel opened for business in Washington, Mr. Trump boasted that he had used an electronic verification system, E-verify, to ensure that only those legally entitled to work were hired.
“We didn’t have one illegal immigrant on the job,” Trump said then.
This would seem to be one of the many times when Trump has said whatever seems politically expedient, regardless of the facts. But now the facts are being revealed.
Attorney Anibal Romero is representing several undocumented immigrants who have worked at Trump’s Bedminster club, including Morales and Diaz. He recently met with investigators from the New Jersey state attorney general’s office and handed over fake green cards and Social Security numbers allegedly procured by supervisors at Trump’s Bedminster club and given to Morales and Diaz.
Romero has also been in touch with an FBI agent who received a referral from Robert Mueller’s office and met with Romero in person to get the specifics of the case.
So now we know that both the FBI and the New Jersey attorney general’s office have evidence from Morales and Diaz — and maybe others — that allegedly proves that supervisors at Trump’s golf club gave out phony identities to some workers.
In The Washington Post, Paul Waldman writes that he’s not surprised that Trump may be using undocumented labor, since he already has a long history of this practice.
Nevertheless, we can hope that this investigation will move forward — and that Trump, who is already facing many lawsuits, will be once more charged with acting illegally.
Meanwhile, where is the outrage against a president who has pushed hard-line immigration policies and partially shut down the government in a spat about not getting his border wall funding, while his golf club supervisors are allegedly hiring undocumented immigrants to do his dirty work?
Why does Trump have one set of standards that doesn’t apply to anyone else?
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