Trump Model Management Abusing H-1 Visa Holders?
CNN Money reports that Donald Trump‘s modeling agency has profited from the same visa program that the presidential candidate himself has challenged — and may have violated federal law in the process.
During the presidential campaign, Trump has criticized U.S. companies using foreign workers instead of Americans. He specifically has criticized the employment of high-skilled workers brought to the United States through the H-1B visa program. Although this program is best known for bringing over technology workers including engineers and computer programmers, Trump’s modeling agency has used the program. The program has allowed fashion models to be eligible for H-1B visas
The use of H-1B visas by Trump Model Management, founded by Trump in 1999, is being questioned. The agency is currently battling a proposed class action lawsuit filed by Jamaican model Alexia Palmer, who was came to the U.S. through an H-1B visa. The suit alleges that the agency recruits foreign models with promises of wages that never materialize and defrauds the U.S. government on visa applications. Palmer is currently the only plaintiff and the suit has not yet been certified as a class-action. In her case, Palmer allegedly was paid a few thousand dollars over three years despite being lured with the promise of more than $200,000 in earnings in that same time period. That salary was listed by Trump Model Management as part of Palmer’s visa application. Palmer said that she felt that she was a “slave” working for the agency.
Born in the former Yugoslavia, Melania Trump was associated as a model with Trump Model Management, before her marriage to Donald Trump.
KJ