Trump Winery looking for foreign workers

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. — As President Donald Trump and his administration fight American jobs for American workers, Eric Trump’s Virginia winery is applying for permission to bring in more than two dozen foreign workers for this year’s season, multiple media outlets are reporting.

Trump Vineyard Estates has applied to bring in 29 workers through a federal H-2A visa program, Fox News reported.

The winery had asked for six workers in December, but has increased the request by 26 workers last month.

Trump's property is not the only one in the area that has applied for workers. Three vineyards in the Charlottesville, Va. area applied this year. Two others have used the visa requests in the past, the Charlottesville Daily Progress reported.

A lawyer who have worked with companies to fill positions say the need for foreign workers is nothing new.

"People these days say there are no workers that will perform seasonal work like agriculture jobs, landscaping, entry level, low skill...I think that's an overstatement. I don't think there are no people to do it, there's just a deficiency of people to do it," Libby Whitley told The Daily Progress.

The H-2A program was designed for agricultural companies who believe they will have a shortage of American workers and allows them to bring in foreign workers for temporary and seasonal jobs, The Daily Progress reported.

Whitley, who worked with the Trump winery, said she expected to be inundated with applications after the first H-2A request.

"Guess how many applicants we had?...13," she told Fox News. "And they were all from places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria. We did not have one American worker apply."

But the office has received emails stating the writer’s dislike of the employment visa request.

"I qualify every one of those responses and I say, 'Are you interested in the job? If you are, please get in touch with us immediately'," Whitley told Fox News.

Cox Media Group