It took a while before something that happened at some other Trump Organization properties was confirmed in South Jersey, but it wasn’t surprising: The Washington Post just reported that three undocumented workers were recently fired from the Trump National Golf Club in Pine Hill, Camden County.

The report follows similar revelations about Trump country club employees at Bedminster, Somerset County, and in Westchester County, N.Y., by both the Post and the New York Times. The newspapers and other media organizations have since interviewed employees who were laid off, some after years or decades of service.

Eric Trump, President Donald Trump’s son, confirmed the Pine Hill firings. Although the Camden County workers have not, so far, granted any interviews, their stories are likely to be similar: They liked their jobs, which often included substantial responsibility, with pay that exceeded minimum wage. Some of the workers claimed that the clubs’ management was aware of their undocumented status, and said they were fired now because they were an embarrassment to the president’s hostile stance on recent immigrants, especially undocumented ones.

In a few cases, workers said they’d previously been told by their bosses that, to stay employed, they needed to obtain better fake Social Security and green cards that look more like the real thing.

Ignoring, for argument’s sake, the special brand of hypocrisy reserved for the discovery of these workers at Trump-owned businesses, the Pine Hill situation is a microcosm of a widespread employment dilemma.

It’s possible to have compassion for the released workers, who usually have made new lives and raised families in their adopted country, but still acknowledge that, in presenting forged documents, they’ve violated more laws than just coming here illegally. Their actions could lead to nonpayment of payroll taxes or theft of government benefits they’re not entitled to receive. (Of course, some undocumented workers remit payroll taxes through their employers, but are to scared to seek any of the associated benefits.)

When employers are part of the conspiracy, they’re justifiably subject to prosecution. It was reported that, until recently, the Trump clubs did not use the federal government’s E-Verify system that can expose fraudulent employment documents. Congress has never seen fit to make this program mandatory — most likely a nod to the well-financed industries that benefit economically from looking the other way. In addition to hospitality, landscaping, construction, farm labor and food processing come to mind. South Jersey in the past has been the site of well publicized raids where ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and its forerunners rounded up undocumented car wash workers.

The disconnect is that while a sense of justice is served with these raids, the workers can be viewed as victims, too. It’s reasonable for legal advocates to be worried that the ex-Trump employees will be singled out for deportation, while the clubs face no consequences.

This jumble makes it essential that Congress and the president agree on some path to allow longtime undocumented workers who have violated no other criminal statutes to stay in the United States legally and keep working. Once that happens, E-Verify or other employer verification should become mandatory.

President Trump would much rather talk about "border caravans” that do not constitute any present crisis than address an immigration dilemma that is real — the one that is entwined with his family businesses.

Whether or not we need a wall, what we need a lot sooner is sensible, comprehensive reform that covers undocumented immigrants who are already woven into the fabric of American society.

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