Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club often hires foreign guest workers over US employees

The Republican front-runner claims in New York Times report that his club is hiring guest workers out of necessity.

Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Club with his wife, Melania, and son, Barron. (Getty Images)

For all his tough talk on immigration on the campaign trail, Donald Trump's famous Florida club appears to prefer hiring foreign guest workers over United States residents.

According to a report from the New York Times, the opulent Mar-a-Lago Club has filed for 500 visas for foreign workers through the Department of Labor since 2010. Over the same period, the private club hired just 17 out of about 300 U.S. applicants, records obtained by The Times show.

Mr. Trump's strengthening campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has been full of promises to bring back American jobs and "make America great again." He has also called to deport all illegal immigrants, and proposed to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent people illegally coming into the U.S.

But Mr. Trump told the Times that Mar-a-Lago only hires the guest workers because good help is hard to find in Palm Beach.

"I want to protect our borders," he said. "I also want to protect our businesses. They have to come in legally, and then they go back. Certain areas, in really successful areas, where we can't get any help, many people do that. That's a good thing. Otherwise, you hurt your business."

The director of a Palm Beach job-placement service, Tom Veenstra, told The Times that he has plenty of qualified employees for the positions at Mar-a-Lago.

This isn't the first time Mr. Trump's views on immigration have seemingly contradicted his business practices. Many items from his men's clothing line have been made in Mexico and China, both of which Mr. Trump often claims are "beating" the U.S.

Follow @PaytonGuion on Twitter.