Mar-a-Lago was granted 70 visas to bring in foreign workers just last year for the winter season beginning in October. That was a 9 percent increase over the previous year.

Since 2010 Mar-a-Lago alone has obtained a total of 500 H-2B visas for seasonal workers, many of them from Haiti and Romania , sources have told The New Yorker.

In January Trumps Department of Homeland Security removed Haiti from the list of more than 80 countries eligible for those visas as well as for the H-2A farmworker visas, citing high levels of fraud and abuse and a high rate of overstaying the terms of their visas. Fortune magazine warned that the crackdown on Haitian workers could cripple Mar-a-Lago since the resort has long relied on Haitians. DHS took the action just days after Trump complained about immigrants from what he reportedly called shithole countries , referring to Haiti and African nations.

The H-2B visa program allows non-agricultural, seasonal employers such as hotels to hire foreign workers but only when the businesses cant find Americans to fill the jobs. The Trump administration temporarily expanded the program in 2017, which benefited Trump businesses. At the same time, the president restricted the H-1B program for highly skilled immigrants.

Companies are required to run two want ads in local newspapers before applying for foreign worker visas. Mar-a-Lago placed two hard-to-find classified ads in tiny type with no phone number or email information, according to a Washington Post report last year. Workers could apply for the jobs only by fax or mail .

CareerSource Palm Beach County, a nonprofit placement agency, told The Palm Beach Post at the time that they had thousands of Americans eager to work at Mar-a-Lago.