Trump Media & Technology Group, the corporate behind Truth Social, submitted an H-1B visa application in June 2022 for a employee earning $65,000 per yr, the bottom wage category allowed under this system. Federal immigration data shows the corporate was approved for a visa several months later. The company says it didn’t hire the worker.
Applying for the visa shapes the image of Trump, the candidate who applied for the visa proposed a protectionist agenda for corporations to “hire Americans,” contradicting businessman Trump, who has said his corporations would use every tool at their disposal. Records show that the investment firm founded by Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also filed an application and received approval to rent a foreign national as an worker under the identical visa program.
Trump Media & Technology Group said in an announcement that the request was “made under previous leadership,” though the present CEO, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman and longtime Trump ally Devin Nunes, did so already runs the corporate on the time the appliance was first submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor.
“The company has never hired an employee for the H-1B visa program and has no plans to hire one. Upon learning of this request, which was made under previous management, current management immediately completed the process in November 2022,” the corporate said in an announcement.
An H-1B visa application can cost corporations around $5,000 per worker. Companies also can withdraw petitions after approval. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records data and doesn’t note when visas are revoked. But a spokeswoman for the Labor Department, which also oversees H-1B applications, said there was no record of Truth Social requesting a withdrawal.
A standard tool for technology corporations
Technology corporations often hire employees with the H-1B program. According to a review of petitions filed since 2009, Trump has never hidden the proven fact that he used the visas before he became president. He mainly used it to recruit foreign models and just a few employees for his hotels and resorts.
But with exceptions to renew existing applications, his corporations appeared to have stopped applying for H-1B visas by the point Truth Social was founded.
Labor Department data shows that Trump Media & Technology Group filed a request for a salary of $65,000 for one worker. The employer is listed as Will Wilkerson, the corporate’s co-founder and former senior vice chairman of operations, and the job location is listed as an Atlanta address.
Wilkerson filed a whistleblower grievance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2022, alleging that the corporate committed securities violations. According to the Washington Post, he has been fired and is cooperating with federal authorities. His lawyers said he wouldn’t comment.
“I shouldn’t be allowed to use it.”
Trump often speaks concerning the arrival of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, but his policy proposals on the White House have also included restrictions on legal immigration comparable to family-based visas and the visa lottery program.
In a 2016 primary debate, Trump spoke concerning the H-1B visa program, saying it was “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. employees.
“First of all, I think, and I know the H-1B very well. And it’s something that I honestly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it,” he said. “Secondly, I think it’s very important to say, well, I’m a businessman and I have to do what I have to do.”
Three months after taking office, Trump issued his “Buy American and Hire American.” supreme command, which directed Cabinet members to propose reforms to make sure H-1B visas are awarded to the highest-paid or best-qualified applicants to guard American employees. He has previously said this system has been utilized by technology corporations to draw foreign employees at lower wages.
During his term, a study by the nonpartisan National Foundation for American Policy found that the administration increased scrutiny of cases, asking corporations searching for to rent foreign employees for more information and rejecting additional petitions.
The “Project 2025” handbook compiled by allies preparing for Trump’s potential transition to power says the H-1B program ought to be “transformed into an elite mechanism designed solely to recruit the ‘best and brightest.’ to the very best wages while ensuring that U.S. employees should not disadvantaged by this system.”
Professional, scientific and technical services corporations account for greater than 60% of the overall visas issued, said Nicolas Morales, an economist specializing in labor and migration within the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Morales said he has found the visa program to be useful for small businesses to remain in business.
“Winning the H-1B lottery actually helps them. It increases their chances of survival,” he said. “Over the next five years, they are more likely to remain active, especially small businesses that rely heavily on skilled workers.”
The applications require corporations to certify that they supply foreign employees with the identical advantages as U.S. employees and pay greater than others with similar experience and qualifications, or greater than the everyday wage for that form of employment. Companies must also notify employees of the filing by posting a notice in two places within the workplace.
Much of the criticism of the H-1B program focuses on corporations that provide foreign employees salaries within the lower wage categories. The application filed by Kushner’s investment firm to rent a foreign worker appears to handle this grievance.
The Labor Department authenticated a document through which Kushner’s investment firm said it could pay that worker a salary of $200,000, which is below the very best pay level for H-1B visas, that are typically reserved for experts of their field and leadership positions. Recent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows the corporate has been approved for a visa.
Kushner has not joined the Trump campaign and is pursuing his own business interests by applying for tourism projects within the Balkans.
