Juan Quintero worked as a greenskeeper at the Trump National Golf Club in Hopewell Junction, New York, for nearly two decades, allegedly coming into direct contact with Eric Trump as he maintained the course.
Quintero was living as an undocumented immigrant the entire time.
In an interview with The Washington Post , Quintero revealed that he had text message exchanges with Eric Trump, the executive vice president at the Trump Organization, though it was not clear if Eric was aware of his status as an undocumented immigrant. Quintero is now the second undocumented immigrant to come forward and say they worked directly for Eric Trump.
The Trump Organization had come under fire for its hiring of undocumented immigrants — mostly in service jobs throughout its company — all while Donald Trump railed against the dangers of illegal immigration. The company reportedly did not use the federal E-Verify program, one that checks employment eligibility for prospective hires. The company also allegedly helped undocumented immigrants obtain documents that allowed them to work, all while living in the United States illegally.
As The Hill reported, Quintero was fired — along with close to a dozen other employees who were undocumented immigrants — after a group of former employees at the Trump Bedminster property in New Jersey, a popular summer destination for the president on weekend getaways from the White House, revealed that the Trump Organization helped them skirt immigration laws.
Juan Quintero, living in the U.S. illegally, personally texted with Eric Trump about his work at the Trump sons’ hunting lodge. When he couldn’t produce a social security number to get an ATM card, he was given an ATM card to use in someone else’s name. https://t.co/8lMJ7xsa04
— Rosalind Helderman (@PostRoz) March 6, 2019
The claim that Eric Trump worked directly with undocumented immigrants at the Trump Organization came just after Donald Trump’s second-oldest son revealed that he had second thoughts about whether his father’s 2016 election win was worth it. In a radio interview with Fox News morning host Brian Kilmeade, Eric expressed some doubts about what effect the win has had on the Trump family.
As The Daily Beast noted, Eric Trump admitted to Kilmeade that he “one hundred percent” questioned whether the win was worth the scrutiny it has placed on the Trump family, though he also said that he hears often from Americans who are grateful for the sacrifices he says the family has made.
Eric Trump also said that he admired what his father had done in giving up a comfortable life to be president of the United States.
“I mean, this was a billionaire who gave up an unbelievable life to go get punched on the chin every single day,” Eric Trump said. “To get abused, and quite frankly, as a family we’ve done that as well.”
The Trump Organization did not respond to The Washington Post report that Eric Trump worked directly with undocumented immigrants.
