Sen. Barbara Boxer called for an investigation into one of Donald Trump's companies after a Mother Jones report. | Getty Sen. Boxer calls for probe into Trump Model Management

California Sen. Barbara Boxer called on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to open an investigation into Donald Trump’s model management company over allegations that it broke immigration laws.

Boxer’s request, which came in the form of a letter made public on Wednesday, follows a report from Mother Jones magazine alleging that Trump Model Management employed foreign women who had traveled to the U.S. on tourist visas that did not allow them to work.


“I am extremely concerned by the claims levied against Trump Model Management and ask that you open an investigation into the company's employment practices,” Boxer wrote in her letter to Citizenship and Immigration Services Director León Rodríguez. “I hope you will make clear that immigration and labor violations like these will not be tolerated.”

Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has built much of his campaign upon the issue of immigration, winning the Republican primary in large part because of his hard-line stances on the issue. He has promised to crack down on foreign visitors who overstay their visas and build a wall on America’s southern border, which Mexico would be forced to pay for.

But citing interviews with multiple women who worked for the agency, the Mother Jones story alleges that Trump Model Management never obtained work visas for at least some of its models and specifically instructed them to lie on customs forms about why they were in the U.S. Some models told Mother Jones that they made little money because of high fees that Trump Model Management charged them for housing and other expenses.

Of working for the agency, one Canadian-born model said, "it is like modern-day slavery."