Five undocumented workers at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey say they were given fake Social Security numbers and green cards by golf club employees, the New York Daily News reported Saturday (Dec. 29).
The New Jersey attorney general’s office is investigating the allegations, and the FBI is investigating, Anibal Romero, an attorney representing the workers, told the paper. Romero said he has furnished the state attorney general’s office with fraudulent green cards and Social Security numbers given to two of his clients, Victorina Morales and Sandra Diaz, and given evidence to New Jersey FBI agents.
Morales, 45, a Guatemalan national, is still employed at the golf club but no longer goes to work; Diaz, 46, is a Costa Rican national who was undocumented while working at the golf club but has now obtained legal status in the US. They both told the New York Times about their work at the golf club and interactions with Trump personally earlier this month, citing frustration with his remarks about undocumented immigrants.
Romero told the Daily News that the fake documents were arranged by the workers’ managers at the golf club. In Morales’ case, her supervisor took the photo used for the documents in the club’s laundry room, he said. The New York Times ran Morales’ “Social Security number” through several public records systems, but produced no match, “which is often an indication that the number is not valid,” the Times wrote.
Romero said he informed FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s office about the issue, which told Romero that the matter wasn’t in their jurisdiction. New Jersey FBI agent contacted him soon after, Romero said. An official New Jersey investigation would add to an already lengthy list of probes into Trump’s businesses, campaign, and conduct as president.