New Jersey AG probes Trump golf club after undocumented maids claim racially-charged harassment, threats

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This Nov. 18, 2016 photo shows the clubhouse of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)

New Jersey’s top law enforcement agency is looking into claims of widespread harassment and immigration fraud at President Trump’s Garden State golf club after several former and current housekeepers alleged racially-charged mistreatment, the Daily News has learned.

 

Anibal Romero, a Newark-based attorney, said Friday the state attorney general’s office recently reached out to him about claims that five of his clients were routinely threatened and called racial slurs while working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.

 

The women — all of whom are or were undocumented immigrants — also accused their supervisor at the extravagant estate set them up with fraudulent work permits and threatened to report them to federal authorities if they spoke out.

 

“These are elements of federal crimes and it’s important that the state attorney general’s office or federal authorities investigate this case,” Romero told The News. “It is unacceptable that employees of the Trump National Golf Club have to endure this type of abuse.”

 

 

Romero said he has also established contact with federal authorities at “the highest level” but declined to specify what agencies he’s been in touch with.

 

Citing policy, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey AG’s office declined to confirm or deny whether an investigation has been opened into the Trump club.

 

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not immediately return a request for comment.

 

Victorina Morales, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who is still employed at the club, and Sandra Diaz, a Costa Rican national who used to work there, first came forward with their allegations in interviews with The New York Times earlier this month.

 

Since then, Romero says three more undocumented women who used to work at the club have reached out to him with similar allegations of harassment and immigration fraud.

 

Two of the women, who are from Mexico and Ecuador respectively, have declined to give their names out of fear of repercussion.

 

The other woman, Gilberta Dominguez, is from Mexico and said she was also subject to racial slurs, threats and was set up with fraudulent papers while working at the club, according to Romero.

 

Morales is the only one of Romero’s clients who still works at the club.

 

“Based on conversations my client has had with people who are undocumented and are still working for the golf club, no one has been fired, they are still reporting to work and are being told that everything is going to be okay,” Romero said. “This is extremely troublesome for us because we are concerned that they might be coerced into not speaking.”

 

The state AG development comes as the President faces a myriad of legal headaches, including federal and state investigations into his campaign, his inaugural committee and his namesake foundation.

 

Romero said the President is guilty of flagrant hypocrisy by spouting immigrant-bashing rhetoric from the Oval Office while at the same time employing undocumented workers at his namesake golf club. However, the attorney pointed his fiercest finger at members of Congress.

 

“The problem continues because the work is needed,” Romero said. “In New York City, we see undocumented immigrants in every restaurant, in every construction site, in every supermarket, and if Congress simply passed a law allowing them to work legally, the problem would be fixed.”

 

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