‘Everybody does it’: Trump shamed by NY Times for history of ‘exploiting’ migrants
The New York Times unleashed a blistering attack on Donald Trump Tuesday for shouting about illegal immigration on the campaign trail — while having a history of exploiting migrant work.
Times writer Jonathan Alter highlighted the ex-president's recent lies about pet-eating Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, and his vow to deport thousands of migrants if he returns to the White House.
But then he reminded readers of Trump’s past actions.
“We all know that if the immigrants were, say, Polish, they would not be shamelessly accused of eating pets,” he wrote.
“But it’s worse than that. In 1980, Donald Trump had a chance to take a stand against using undocumented Polish workers in the New York construction industry. Instead, he hired them to demolish the old Bonwit Teller department store building (including the Art Deco friezes that Trump had claimed he was going to donate to the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to make way for Trump Tower.”
Citing reports from 2017, he detailed how Trump employed 200 undocumented Polish workers, paid as little as $4-an-hour and sent them to work 12-hour shifts with no gloves, hard hats or masks.
“As usual, Trump feigned ignorance, but in 1998 a judge ruled that he “should have known,” and the Trump Organization settled the case for $1.38 million,” he wrote.
Alter also referenced a 2019 Washington Post report which claimed Trump employed undocumented immigrants to work as housekeepers, cooks, landscapers and waiters at his Trump Organization properties.
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“When reporters asked Trump to comment, he said, “Probably every club in the United States has that, because it seems to me, from what I understand, a way that people did business.”
“Contrast this “everybody does it” excuse for breaking the law with the way the companies that are reviving Springfield, Ohio, handle employment. They are obeying the law and hiring properly documented Haitians to fill their many vacancies.
“Unlike Trump, these employers treat their workers — many of them victims of unspeakable violence in Haiti — with dignity and respect.
“Their reward? Bomb threats, death threats and continuing lies from MAGA world about Springfield, all fueled by candidates for high office who are asking American voters to trust them.”