President Donald Trump's Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago Club has received permission from the federal government to temporarily hire 70 foreign housekeepers, waiters and cooks to fill out its staff during its upcoming busy season.
Under requests approved by the Labor Department, Mar-a-Lago can employ:
- 35 foreign waiters
- 20 cooks
- 15 housekeepers
...to help serve its 500 members starting this month through May 31.
The waiters will receive $11.88 an hour with no tips, the cooks $13.34 an hour and the housekeepers $10.33 an hour. The waiters' and cooks' wages are slightly above the national average for those fields and the housekeepers' slightly below, according to Labor Department statistics.
The Florida resort's managers attested there aren't enough Americans qualified and available to do the work.
The president's hiring of foreign workers was criticized by his opponents during the 2016 campaign after he slammed companies for moving jobs out of the U.S. and others for hiring immigrants in the country illegally.
During the Republican primary debates, Trump defended Mar-a-Lago's hiring practices, saying not enough Americans apply for its low-end service jobs and if his managers didn't recruit outside the country "we might as well just close the doors."