When President Donald Trump discusses the undocumented community, he uses malicious, inaccurate, and racist language. When he launched his candidacy for presidency in 2015, Trump called Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals.” During his presidency, he has likened Central Americans to “animals” and portrayed asylum seekers from the isthmus as members of MS-13 instead of the victims of violence. But despite his hatred toward undocumented immigrants, Trump has benefitted directly – and continues to benefit – from their labor. In a New York Times‘ profile, Victorina Morales, a Guatemalan immigrant, opens up about working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey throughout Trump’s presidency.
Morales has worked at the property since 2013. She applied with phony documents and she has continued to work there and has even received a certificate from the White House Communications Agency for her “outstanding” assistance when Trump has visited. She has even cleaned Trump’s villa as White House officials have discussed important matters. “I never imagined, as an immigrant from the countryside in Guatemala, that I would see such important people close up,” she told the NYT.
She also stated that there are many others undocumented workers employed at the golf club. She bravely spoke out against Trump, despite know she could lose her job. “We are tired of the abuse, the insults, the way he talks about us when he knows that we are here helping him make money,” she added. “We sweat it out to attend to his every need and have to put up with his humiliation.”
Online, many have praised her for coming forward with her story and criticized Trump for continuing to vilify a group that has helped him build his business. And though we shouldn’t assign worth to undocumented immigrants because of their labor – their contributions to the US are greater than the many ways that they enrich others – it’s repulsive that Trump could privately acknowledge their work ethic but then also turn around and paint them as a drain on resources.
Read the full feature here.