Do As I Say Not As I Did

Source: Silicon Bay Partners’ staff with assistance from ChatGPT
Photo: John Minchillo/Associated Press

One of the more ironic chapters in Donald Trump’s immigration story is that, for years, the Trump Organization faced allegations of employing undocumented workers at several of its properties. According to former employees, managers sometimes even assisted workers in completing hiring paperwork so they could get on the job as quickly as possible.

The controversy stretched back to the construction of Trump Tower itself. In 1998, Trump reached a $1.375 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit brought by undocumented Polish laborers who helped demolish the Bonwit Teller building on Fifth Avenue. The workers alleged they endured 12-hour shifts in an asbestos-filled environment without proper gloves, hard hats, or masks and earned as little as $4 an hour—less than half the prevailing union wage.

Trump denied knowingly employing undocumented workers, and years of litigation followed. Numerous witnesses, however, testified that undocumented laborers were widely used on the project. The case ultimately ended in a settlement without an admission of wrongdoing.

It’s a striking contrast: the man who has made cracking down on undocumented immigration a defining political message spent years battling allegations that undocumented workers helped build one of the most recognizable symbols of the Trump brand—Trump Tower.