FORMER MODELS FOR DONALD TRUMP'S AGENCY SAY THEY VIOLATED IMMIGRATION RULES AND WORKED ILLEGALLY

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

"It's like modern-day slavery."

Republican nominee Donald Trump has placed immigration at the core of his presidential campaign. He has claimed that undocumented immigrants are "taking our jobs" and "taking our money," pledged to deport them en masse, and vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border. At one point he demanded a ban on Muslims entering the country. Speaking to supporters in Iowa on Saturday, Trump said he would crack down on visitors to the United States who overstay their visas and declared that when any American citizen "loses their job to an illegal immigrant, the rights of that American citizen have been violated." And he is scheduled to give a major address on immigration in Arizona on Wednesday night.

But the mogul's New York modeling agency, Trump Model Management, has profited from using foreign models who came to the United States on tourist visas that did not permit them to work here, according to three former Trump models, all noncitizens, who shared their stories with Mother Jones. Financialand immigration records included in a recent lawsuit filed by a fourth former Trump model show that she, too, worked for Trump's agency in the United States without a proper visa.

Foreigners who visit the United States as tourists are generally not permitted to engage in any sort of employment unless they obtain a special visa, a process that typically entails an employer applying for approval on behalf of a prospective employee. Employers risk fines and possible criminal charges for using undocumented labor.

Founded in 1999, Trump Model Management "has risen to the top of the fashion market," boasts the Trump Organization's website, and has a name "that symbolizes success." According to a financial disclosure filed by his campaign in May, Donald Trump earned nearly $2 million from the company, in which he holds an 85 percent stake. Meanwhile, some former Trump models say they barely made any money working for the agency because of the high fees for rent and other expenses that were charged by the company.

Canadian-born Rachel Blais spent nearly three years working for Trump Model Management. After first signing with the agency in March 2004, she said, she performed a series of modeling gigs for Trump's company in the United States without a work visa. At Mother Jones' request, Blais provided a detailed financial statement from Trump Model Management and a letter from an immigration lawyer who, in the fall of 2004, eventually secured a visa that would permit her to work legally in the United States. These records show a six-month gap between when she began working in the United States and when she was granted a work visa. During that time, Blais appeared on Trump'####### reality TV show, The Apprentice, modeling outfits designed by his business protégés. As Blais walked the runway, Donald Trump looked on from the front row.

Two other former Trump models—who requested anonymity to speak freely about their experiences, and who we are giving the pseudonyms Anna and Kate—said the agency never obtained work visas on their behalf, even as they performed modeling assignments in the United States. (They provided photographs from some of these jobs, and Mother Jones confirmed with the photographers or stylists that these shoots occurred in the United States.)

Each of the three former Trump models said she arrived in New York with dreams of making it big in one of the world's most competitive fashion markets. But without work visas, they lived in constant fear of getting caught. "I was pretty on edge most of the time I was there," Anna said of the three months in 2009 she spent in New York working for Trump's agency.

"I was there illegally," she said. "A sitting duck."

According to three immigration lawyers consulted by Mother Jones, even unpaid employment is against the law for foreign nationals who do not have a work visa. "If the US company is benefiting from that person, that's work," explainedAnastasia Tonello, global head of the US immigration team at Laura Devine Attorneys in New York. These rules for immigrants are in place to "protect them from being exploited," she said. "That US company shouldn't be making money off you."

Two of the former Trump models said Trump's agency encouraged them to deceive customs officials about why they were visiting the United States and told them to lie on customs forms about where they intended to live. Anna said she received a specific instruction from a Trump agency representative: "If they ask you any questions, you're just here for meetings."

Uh Oh! Looks like Trump's modeling agency has broken immigration laws. Who'd a thunk it?

[Boiler 46,250]

Build the wall.

I may leave a gate for exceptional totty.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Hot chicks are exempt from rules, duh! Unless they talk back, then they are bleeding from their wherever.

[Boiler 46,250]

Hot chicks are exempt from rules, duh! Unless they talk back, then they are bleeding from their wherever.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Anyone who worked there as a foreigner should be deported along with his hooker, escorting illegal wife.

No worries, his band of merry followers will still support him. He'll give them jobs, after the illegals I guess? Hmmm

Edited August 30, 2016 by Janelle2002

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I can't wait for the day under Trump when all the chicks will have to report to the new Terrific Women's Center to get ranked on their looks and given appropriate duties.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Importing foreign cheap labour? Taking jobs from home grown hotties?

#WhereisMelania????????

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Importing foreign cheap labour? Taking jobs from home grown hotties?

#WhereisMelania????????

No such thing as hot American chicks. Haven't you seen the memes?

[Jacque67 7,328]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JskztPPSJwY#

[Boiler 46,250]

No such thing as hot American chicks. Haven't you seen the memes?

Well not enough to go around, otherwise VJ would lose many of its forums.

Foreign hot chicks doing what US Hot Chicks will not do.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Well not enough to go around, otherwise VJ would lose many of its forums.

Foreign hot chicks doing what US Hot Chicks will not do.

Then guess what? You're not doing it right.

American women will do the same things, if not more if you treat them right and they are in love with you. But men here in the US think they're entitled to a level of women without being on that same level. That HA website is chock full of those kind of men. Dudes be like "I demand a hot skinny chick even though I'm fat and have bad acne." Or they want a woman to love them exclusively but are withdrawn with their own feelings and don't want to put in the work to reciprocate that feeling.

[Boiler 46,250]

Then guess what? You're not doing it right.

American women will do the same things, if not more if you treat them right and they are in love with you. But men here in the US think they're entitled to a level of women without being on that same level. That HA website is chock full of those kind of men. Dudes be like "I demand a hot skinny chick even though I'm fat and have bad acne." Or they want a woman to love them exclusively but are withdrawn with their own feelings and don't want to put in the work to reciprocate that feeling.

Exactly.

That is why we need VJ, the Trumpster chose a slightly different route.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Hot chicks are exempt from rules, duh! Unless they talk back, then they are bleeding from their wherever.

Tire out of ditch heading for the yellow line

Then guess what? You're not doing it right.

American women will do the same things, if not more if you treat them right and they are in love with you. But men here in the US think they're entitled to a level of women without being on that same level. That HA website is chock full of those kind of men. Dudes be like "I demand a hot skinny chick even though I'm fat and have bad acne." Or they want a woman to love them exclusively but are withdrawn with their own feelings and don't want to put in the work to reciprocate that feeling.

Were you not recently married to a furener

[yuna628 9,744]

I can't wait for the day under Trump when all the chicks will have to report to the new Terrific Women's Center to get ranked on their looks and given appropriate duties.

Fantastic! How do we all get graded? By cup size, dress size, or blondeness? I eagerly await to hear Trump's policy on this.

Edited August 31, 2016 by yuna628

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Tire out of ditch heading for the yellow line

Is that where you marked your territory?