 
 
 President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press) 
 
 President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida has asked permission to hire 70 foreign workers this fall, attesting — in the middle of the White House's “Made in America Week” — that it cannot find qualified Americans to serve as cooks, waiters and housekeepers. The club recently asked for permission to hire 15 housekeepers, 20 cooks and 35 waiters on H-2B visas, according to DOL filings made public Thursday during the White House's "Made in America"-themed week. No one from the White House, the Trump Organization, Mar-A-Lago, or the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter immediately responded to a request for comment Thursday. The applications to the Department of Labor are a first step in the process of applying for H-2B visas, which would allow the clubs to bring in foreigners for temporary work between October and next May. A 2015 BuzzFeed News investigation found that H-2 workers were often exploited, and sometimes raped or beaten. (The Washington Post) 
 
 [Trump pushes ‘Made in America’ as White House defends Trump companies making products overseas] 
 
 Earlier this week, the Trump administration said it would expand the number of H-2B visas available nationwide this year by 15,000, using power granted by Congress to go beyond the statutory cap of 66,000 per year.
– The White House celebrated "Made in America Week" this week. So CBS News reports it "seem[s] to clash" that at the same time the Trump administration was touting American products and American jobs, President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club requested permission to hire 70 foreign workers under the H-2B visa program. Meanwhile, Trump's golf club in Jupiter, Florida, requested permission to hire six foreign workers. The requests were made to the Department of Labor and published online Thursday, according to the Washington Post. BuzzFeed reports the workers would fill positions as cooks, waiters, and housekeepers, earning between $10.33 and $13.34 per hour. The temporary foreign workers would be employed from October to May. Mar-a-Lago claims it needs the H-2B visas because it can't find qualified American workers to fill the positions, and Trump has said it's "very, very hard to get help" during the tourist season in Florida. Trump's companies make frequent use of the H-2B visa program, and this week Trump said he was increasing the number of visas available nationwide by 15,000. The UN says the program puts workers at risk of everything from exploitation to trafficking, and a 2015 BuzzFeed investigation found exploitation of H-2B workers is common and workers are also sometimes subjected to physical and sexual violence. On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said American workers "can rest easy knowing that they have a staunch defender in the White House."