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Donald Trump’s family business accelerated its hiring of foreign workers on short-term work permits this year, even as his government was creating barriers for other businesses attempting to do the same, a report published recently stated.

According to data from the US Department of Labor, the Trump Organization aimed to bring in at least 184 overseas employees in 2025 for short-term roles at the US president’s Florida property, golf facilities and his winery in Virginia.

The quantity of requests for H-2A and H-2B visas covering staff including servers, office assistants, cleaning staff, kitchen staff and agricultural laborers was the record filed by the company, and increased from over 120 in the previous term, when Trump’s first term concluded.

It was also the fifth time in a decade that the former president had sought to bring in more than 100 foreign employees for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, based on available data.

The revelation coincides with a crackdown on immigration laws by his administration that has included the introduction of a $100,000 fee on skilled worker visas; extra scrutiny of the actions of the millions of people who already hold American work permits; and tighter regulations for foreign students and reporters.

In total, the Trump Organization sought to employ over 560 foreign laborers over the five years the former president has been in the White House, from his first term and during the upcoming year.

Significantly, the former president was questioned by some in the GOP this week for comments defending the necessity for foreign workers when a business was unable to find people with “particular skills” to occupy certain positions.

“You cannot just say a country is coming in, going to spend $10bn to construct a facility, and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in years, and they’re going to start producing their defense systems. It doesn’t work that well,” he told a host after she suggested that foreign workers lower the wages of American employees.

The White House refused a request for response, and the Trump Organization did not provide an answer to an inquiry.