NJ Allegedly Looking Into Trump Golf Club For Threats, Fraud

BEDMINSTER, NJ — New Jersey’s attorney general is looking into claims of harassment and immigration fraud at Trump National Golf Club after several former and current housekeepers alleged racial mistreatment, according to an attorney representing them.

Anibal Romero, a Newark-based attorney, told Patch that the state attorney general recently reached out to him about claims that five of his clients were routinely threatened and called racial slurs while working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.

Romero said he has had contact with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. The Office of Attorney General declined to confirm the report to Patch.

“These are elements of federal crimes and we have contacted the attorney general and they have contacted us,” Romero said.

Romero said his clients have had their hair pulled, they've been pushed against a wall and they've been called "dogs," among other transgressions.

Romero said his clients have complained to the "highest levels of management." Eventually, they were given a woman whom they later discovered was a nanny for Donald Trump's son, Barron, and who was supposed to look into the situation. Nothing happened, he said.

The revelation follows a New York Times investigation revealed earlier this week that exposed how Trump's organization hired an undocumented housekeeper at the golf club who got into the country illegally.

One of Romero's clients, Victorina Morales, who lived in Bound Brook, left Guatemala in 1999 and illegally entered the United States before heading to Bedminster where she used phony documents to secure a job at the president's golf course, according to the New York Times. She has been working at the golf club and cleaning for President Donald Trump since 2o13.

She claims she is not the only illegal worker at the golf club despite Trump's claims during his presidential campaign boasting that he had used an electronic verification system, E-Verify, to ensure that only those legally entitled to work were hired, according to the New York Times.

At the club, women said they used fake social security and green cards to get hired, and two supervisors at the club knew about their immigration status and helped workers evade detection, according to The Record.

Sandra Diaz, a former cleaning woman who is now a legal resident of the US, said the women worked with housekeeping, maintenance and landscaping employees that included multiple undocumented immigrants, according to The Record.

Romero, an attorney for the two undocumented workers — one current, one former — released this statement regarding the NYT report:

"While working at Donald Trump’s estate in Bedminster and interacting with the President and his immediate family, my clients and others were repeatedly subjected to abuse, called racial epithets and threatened with deportation. Ironically, the threats often came from the same supervisor who had employed them despite knowing their undocumented status and even provided them with forged documents. This toxic environment was designed to intimidate these women, leaving them fearful for their safety and the safety of their families.

"These women have shown tremendous bravery in bringing forth their allegations against such a powerful family."

Click here to read the full New York Times report.

President Trump frequents the golf course on a yearly basis and even spends his summer vacations there.

This past summer, Trump spent an 11-day summer vacation in Bedminster from Thursday, Aug. 2 through Monday, Aug. 13.

Trump had also spent about six weekends at Trump National Golf Club off Lamington Road in Bedminster in 2018. (See related: President Trump May Spend Summer Vacation In Bedminster)

In 2017, the President spent an 18-day summer vacation in Bedminster as well, which local aviators said "devastated" local airports.

(Image via Getty Images / Pool / Pool)

With reporting by Alexis Tarrazi

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.