The following is a statement from David Leopold, legal consultant to Anibal Romero, the lawyer for 25 undocumented former Trump employees, outlining the legal ramifications of Washington Post’s Joshua Partlow, Nick Miroff and David Fahrenthold’s new piece (see the video here) on the caravan of Costa Rican workers sent to Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Today’s explosive front page Washington Post exposé details a decades long multi-state criminal conspiracy perpetrated by the President of the United States to violate immigration, visa, and trafficking laws. It’s shocking to realize that, as he demonized undocumented immigrants as a candidate, Trump was in the midst of an illegal scheme to recruit, employ and exploit undocumented workers. The detailed Washington Post exposé makes clear that Trump profited off the backs of the very immigrant workers he has so viciously dehumanized with his hateful political rhetoric. We now know that, as Trump held the country hostage for his wall, he personally benefited from his own private caravan of undocumented workers, which led directly from Central America to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ. These are serious felonies that demand full federal, state and congressional investigations. In the meantime, all undocumented victims of Donald Trump and his company should be protected as material witnesses to serious federal crimes.
Let’s be clear, the brave Trump workers who’ve come forward, and those who have yet to come forward, are victims of crime. The Department of Homeland Security must protect them with “continued presence,” U and T visas and other appropriate legal protection. To arrest, detain or deport them would be tantamount to obstruction of justice.
