Last January, Eric Trump, who took over the day-to-day business with his brother, Don Jr., said that the Trump Organization was “making a broad effort to identify any employee who has given false and fraudulent documents to unlawfully gain employment,” and that any such individuals would be fired immediately. He also claimed that the company was implementing E-Verify, a program that lets employers check the immigration status of new hires “as soon as possible,” though—and please, find something to brace yourself against lest the shock of what you’re about to hear knock you flat on your back—nothing “changed on the Trump construction crew, according to current and former employees.”

It’s almost as though the president wants the political benefit of treating undocumented immigrants as subhuman menaces while simultaneously receiving the economic benefit of being able to hire people who he can pay less money and not provide health insurance, something his “they’re taking our jobs!” supporters would probably take issue with. (Trump “was saving a lot of money with us,” Castro, whose paychecks show that he made $19 an hour starting in 2016, and then $21 an hour in 2018, told the Post. According to a former carpenter on the crew, “the salary for that work,” which included long hours in the sun breaking rocks or digging trenches “was very low,” and he now earns twice as much doing similar work at a union job, where also receives benefits.) There’s also the uncomfortable matter of Trump’s business practice encouraging the very trend he supposedly believes is destroying the country:

While poverty and violence have pushed thousands to leave Latin America, U.S. businesses that employ undocumented workers are also a major driver of illegal immigration, experts say. By employing workers without legal status, the Trump Organization has an advantage over its competitors, particularly at a time when the economy is strong and the labor market tight, according to industry officials. Undocumented employees are less likely to risk changing jobs and less likely to complain if treated poorly.

The White House did not respond to the Post’s request for comment. The Trump Organization did not respond to specific questions about the legal status of workers at Mobile Payroll Construction—the official company, solely owned by Trump, that started paying the crew as of 2015—, saying in a statement “since this issue was first brought to our attention, we have taken diligent steps, including the use of E-Verify at all of our properties and companies. Those efforts continue and where an employee is found to have provided fake or fraudulent documentation to unlawfully gain employment, that individual will be terminated. Fortunately, among the thousands of individuals employed by our organization, we have encountered very few instances where this has occurred.”