Trump Organization adopts E-Verify to check worker immigrant status

Trump Organization says it will use a federal database to check worker immigration status.

On the heels of news that the Trump Organization fired about a dozen undocumented workers earlier this month who had worked on the president’s golf properties, the company announced Wednesday that it will begin using the E-Verify system to confirm that employees are allowed to work in the United States.

"We are actively engaged in uniforming this process across our properties and will institute E-verify at any property not currently utilizing this system," Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said to FOX Business. "As a company we take this obligation very seriously and when faced with a situation in which an employee has presented false and fraudulent documentation, we will take appropriate action."

"I must say, for me personally, this whole thing is truly heartbreaking," he added. "Our employees are like family but when presented with fake documents, an employer has little choice."

A lawyer for a dozen immigrant workers at the Trump National Golf Club in New York's Westchester County said recently that they were fired on Jan. 18. He said many had worked there for a dozen or more years. Workers at another Trump club in New Jersey came forward last month to allege managers there had hired them knowing they were in the country illegally.

On Tuesday, Anibal Romero, the attorney who represents the workers said that he is pursuing protection from deportation for his clients.

He said he wants them to speak freely about harassment they experienced while working at Trump properties. He says his clients worked at golf clubs in New Jersey and New York. Romero called the Trump Organization a "criminal enterprise" that has relied on illegal immigration workers for many years.

"All of them are material witnesses to a federal crime, and any attempt to try and remove them from the United States could possibly be obstruction of justice,'' he said in a media conference call with reporters.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

Trump turned over day-to-day management of his business to son Eric and his other adult son, Donald Jr., when he took the oath of office two years ago.

The Trump Organization owns or manages 17 golf clubs around the world.