CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE
Help needed: Immigration crackdown worsens worker shortage for Florida businessesAntonio Fins and Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post
Mon, January 16, 2023
On the way to a business meeting in Fort Lauderdale, hotelier Jan Gautam dropped in on a Holiday Inn Express location in Boynton Beach. But Gautam wasn't there to check-in.
"I am going to make the beds," said Gautam, president and CEO of Orlando-based Interessant Hotels & Resort Management. "Our manager there needs help and if I don't go, what happens?"
Making beds, bussing tables and offering hands-on support to the hotel managers and employees at the 24 properties his company owns, plus the 75 others it manages — like the Holiday Inn Express off Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County — are Gautam's most important executive duties these days.
"The people staying at our hotels demand 100% service. They are paying for it," said Gautam, who was well into another 19-hour day before a drive back to Central Florida. "The rooms have to be clean. They have to be ready."
Gautam's plight speaks to a serious strain on the Sunshine State's largest industry — tourists are coming back, but the industry's workers are not.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, December 29, 2021.
VisitFlorida announced Dec. 27 that Florida drew 32.5 million tourists in the third quarter of this year. The state's travel promotion agency said that that total marked the "first time overall visitation has exceeded pre-pandemic levels" over a three-month period.
But while Florida is again the world's premiere travel destination, the labor it depends on has gone elsewhere.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association has reported that, nationally, 20% of leisure and hospitality jobs — or 3.5 million in total — were lost to the pandemic and had yet to return as of earlier this year. The organization projected U.S. hotels would likely end 2021 down 500,000 "direct jobs."
Thanks to its beaches, theme parks and other coveted attractions, Florida has a disproportionately higher number of leisure and hospitality businesses, including hotels and restaurants, and employers here say the worker shortage is inflicting a higher level of pain.
While the monthly jobless rate continues to drop, the gap between the growing number of available jobs and the shrinking pool of unemployed people available to fill them is widening.
Gautam said his company is down 50% from the pre-pandemic staffing of 4,500 — a number that would still be inadequate to handle the growth in business he is experiencing.
Advocates: Immigration crackdown has aggravated American worker shortage
Now, business groups like AHLA and the American Business Immigration Coalition, of which Gautam is a member, say the answer is more immigration, not less.
In a statement on its website, the hotel group said: "We have always been a major employer of immigrants, and we also rely on legal guest worker programs to augment our workforce. We believe that the United States can have both an effective and welcoming legal immigration process that enables hotels and other businesses to meet our workforce needs, while also protecting our national security."
Officials at ABIC blame, at least in part, the shallow labor pool for industries like tourism and agriculture on restrictive immigration policies, especially those of the Trump administration.
"We see a huge connection," said Rebecca Shi, the coalition's executive director. "Since the pandemic, and the crackdown of the last four years, the worker shortage has gotten worse."
The restraints on immigration were not simply relegated to border security and control. They also reflected a profound change in just who the United States wanted to welcome as new Americans. Specifically,people with professions, degrees and talents would be favored rather than Horatio Alger types.
"It is time to begin moving towards a merit-based immigration system — one that admits people who are skilled, who want to work, who will contribute to our society, and who will love and respect our country," former President Trump said in his 2018 State of the Union speech.
The change in policy direction was an error, Shi and others now say, and the monthly unemployment reports speak to the consequences for industries that depend on low-skilled immigrants willing to work their way to a better life in America.
Unemployment drops but there's a gap creating a headache for businesses
In fact, while the monthly jobless rate continues to drop, the gap between the growing number of available jobs and the shrinking pool of unemployed people available to fill them is widening, not narrowing.
Florida's jobless rate is back under 4%, the threshold economists have long said constitutes full employment.
In Southwest Florida, the monthly unemployment survey reported a 3.3% unemployment rate for the Sarasota-Manatee County area in November. The labor force increased by 8.1% to 388,327 people, and there were just 12,658 unemployed residents.
Palm Beach County, where CEO Gautam was making beds and cleaning rooms on Monday, reported a new low in November for unemployment in the post-coronavirus business shutdown era — 3.5%, down from 4% in October.
The telltale numbers, however, were 39,258 job openings versus 26,537 unemployed people. A gap of 12,721 that was almost twice the hole from the prior month. Meaning the worker shortage grew worse even as more people rejoined the workforce.
While unemployment is dropping lower in Florida, tourism-related businesses such as hotels and restaurants are having a difficult time filling openings.
"It's no surprise why that gap keeps growing," Shi said.
Not only are there millions of undocumented workers "in the shadows," Shi said, but a pivotal foreign visa program also has been restrained. As a result, the "demand is super high" for workers. And if a business has a capable worker it wants to promote, that's a no-go if that person is undocumented.
Shi said she has spoken with Orlando hoteliers who tell her they have 1,000 unfilled positions. A lot of those openings, Shi said, are ones usually filled by immigrants because they are the positions that established U.S. citizens and residents historically have not wanted to accept.
Increasing work permits for legal immigrant workers, and resolving the limbo of undocumented workers, Shi insists could help fill many of the 11 million U.S. jobs ABIC said are unfilled right now in construction, healthcare, hospitality, and other service industries.
Besides improving customer service at these locations, Shi said, immigration reform would also alleviate the spike in inflation that is at least partly driven by rising labor costs as desperate employers offer higher wages, pricey benefits and costly perks to lure employees.
And that crisis at the border, Shi said, is more fallout. If the United States had a functional immigration system to allow low-skilled labor to come to America, people would not be crashing the border to "try to game" the asylum system.
"We have people at the border literally wanting to come and work but we don't have a legal system to connect them with employers," she said.
Is immigration reform a long-term answer for employers who need help?
Gautam, who is an ABIC member, said he supports immigration reform but is skeptical it would provide the immediate relief he needs.
Yes, he said that he has hired immigrants from Venezuela and Costa Rica and they have been "some of the hardest workers" that he has ever employed. He also said that his company, in the past, has had internship-like programs that have successfully trained employees.
The downside is that those are long-term solutions and he needs workers now — right now. He would rather the Biden administration and states end unemployment subsidies to force even more people back into the workforce.
Even with Florida's relatively low 3.6% unemployment rate there are still close to 500,000 jobless residents, as of November, who could fill some of the demand for workers.
"It's not just us. It's everybody," said Gautam. "We are in bad shape. We need help and we need it now."
Economists have debunked the belief that unemployment benefits have dissuaded workers from returning to the job market, citing other factors such as lack of childcare stemming from school attendance disruptions and COVID health risks.
In Palm Beach County, CareerSource officials also say national trends, like accelerated Baby Boomer retirements and a shrunken working-age population owing to low birth rates in recent decades, are impacting the region's employment base.
Regardless, the result is the same: Employers are hurting for workers to meet demand for products and services, and healthy immigration flows could help.
Restaurateur Burt Rapoport said immigrant labor is vital to filling key jobs at his eateries, such as dishwashers. He is having some success hiring immigrant Haitians at Rapoport's Restaurant Group, which owns Deck 84, Pagoda Kitchen, Max's Grille and Prezzo eateries.
Rapoport said his company for years has used the E-Verify system to confirm the legal eligibility of job applicants. Now, at a time when restaurants already are struggling to find workers, "there are not many dishwashers out there that are legal and have the paperwork," Rapaport said.
The demand for dishwashers has gone up considerably during the past couple of years as new eateries throughout the county have opened. That's driving up the wage for dishwashers, who used to be paid about $10 an hour and now can fetch $15, Rapoport said.
Still, some people aren't interested in working as a restaurant dishwasher because they can get jobs at Amazon warehouses or in construction, "making a lot more money, and the hours are more convenient," Rapoport said.
But for other immigrants, working as a dishwasher still has its perks.
"The jobs are available, and they get fed," Rapoport said.
Restaurateur counsels kindness, and patience
Rocco Mangel, an owner of the popular Rocco's Tacos eateries, said his biggest hiring issue these days is finding staff willing or able to work amid the latest COVID-19 outbreak.
In some cases, staffing is thin because some employees have caught the virus.
The situation is so volatile, Mangel said he's placed signs in his restaurants explaining the staffing shortage. The signs ask customers to be patient and kind to the staffers who are working.
"It's very hard to successfully run a busy restaurant company these days," Mangel said. "Instead of having 10 waiters, we might have five. So be kind, be courteous. We're doing the best we can."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Help needed: Immigration crackdown worsens worker shortage for Florida businesses
Foreign temp workers at Mar-a-Lago raise another security concern
Alexandra Clough and Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Mon, January 16, 2023
President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club on March 9, 2019.
Like 38 other hospitality businesses in Palm Beach County, Mar-a-Lago is waiting to be told by the federal government just how many foreign temporary workers it can hire to serve members and guests during the winter tourist season.
Former President Trump's private Palm Beach club, and other locations such as the nearby Breakers Palm Beach Resort, for years routinely applied for these visas to fill low-wage, low-skilled jobs.
This year, the foreign visa program for temporary help — county-based private clubs, hotels and resorts have asked for a collective 2,266 workers — is especially important. The county's labor market, with unemployment hovering at just 3%, is especially tight with an almost 2-for-1 ratio in the number of open jobs to available unemployed workers.
Since Trump won the presidency, Mar-a-Lago was always a national security red flag
Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal
But Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal and legal firestorm over Trump's possession of top-secret documents. The discovery and seizure of those files, numbering hundreds of pages, has heaped scrutiny on the already fraught security risks presented by a private business that alternately serves as the official residence of a former commander-in-chief.
The presence of foreign workers, in the past and again starting this fall, adds to the glare on Trump's estate, which one national security analyst said already had an uncomfortable flow of people, access and volume.
Former president Donald Trump drops into the Daughters of the American Revolution Henry Morrison Flagler chapter luncheon at Mar-a-Lago Club on April 6, 2022.
Lindsay Rodman, a former White House fellow who was director for defense policy and strategy at the National Security Council, quips that Mar-a-Lago has the aura of "a classic James Bond" scene just waiting for "a heist" of secret files.
"Having tons of international guests coming back and forth from a poorly secured area puts any documents that might be found there at high risk," said Rodman, who now teaches national security, cybersecurity and foreign relations at George Washington University Law School. "It does not sound like the type of security precautions they were taking had anything to do with what we would have been seeing in the White House, the Pentagon or any of the other places I've worked with."
Mar-a-Lago asks for scores of foreign workers ahead of winter season
Mar-a-Lago this year requested to filla record 91 positions with foreign workersfor this coming year, up from 80 in 2019, according to CareerSource, the county's nonprofit job placement agency.
In addition to Mar-a-Lago, Trump also has two other Palm Beach County properties, Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
This year, as in years past, Trump is requesting permission to hire seasonal foreign workers for these properties, too: 14 for Trump International and 10 for Trump National.
The Mar-a-Lago jobs include cooks, servers and housekeepers. The workers are needed through the balance of the winter social season — Mar-a-Lago generally operates between late October and mid-May.
The hired hands will cater to the club's members, including the many 1 percenters that descend on Palm Beach for the social season. And they will help handle what is a varied calendar of events.
Mar-a-Lago is a highly desired location for weddings, philanthropic galas, and political fund-raising luncheons and dinners.
The request for foreign workers is a two-step process involving two federal agencies.
Trump resort hired undocumented workers
Secret service agents stand at the gate of Mar-a-Lago after the FBI issued warrants on Aug. 8, 2022.
First, the U.S. Department of Labor reviews the ask by private businesses. A Labor Department spokesman said the agency is limited to evaluating whether the need for foreign labor is warranted, meaning Mar-a-Lago's request likely will be certified.
But approval by the Department of Homeland Security also is required before a business can secure foreign workers, the Labor Department spokesman said. DHS must approve the H2B visas for temporary foreign workers.
It's not clear whether DHS is giving added scrutiny to Mar-a-Lago's request, given the ongoing investigation into Trump and the location of all classified documents or presidential records.The department did not respond to a request for comment.
President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club Saturday March 9, 2019 in Palm Beach. President Trump had just returned from golfing.
How might foreign workers seeking temp jobs in America be vetted?
But a specialist in private security, who has worked with former federal agents in various law-enforcement branches, said government agencies conduct fairly extensive vetting of foreign temporary workers. And in Palm Beach County, the employers hiring them will do some background checking, too.
"There are two stages to this," said Ross Thompson, a longtime professional in private security who is now CEO of COVAC Global in West Palm Beach.
Since 9/11, Thompson said, the foreign worker visa system has become exponentially more stringent. For example, a current passport contains all sorts of data, includingnames, aliases andaddresses, that will then be checked against databases run by the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol.
That search is largely handled by the National Vetting Center, a unit of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Thompson said. The U.S. embassy and the State Department's consular offices in the applicant's home country also will conduct thorough interviews.
"Based off that, the government is going to make a decision on whether you are a threat or not," Thompson said. "The second piece of that is whether or not you are going to actually do what you say you are going to do. Come here, work, get paid and leave. That's another big consideration they are looking at."
Thompson also notes that the choosing of employees by local hospitality businesses and companies is not a random act. He said most often the person who is being considered is a family member or a friend of an existing or former worker — or someone known to a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
"There's some degree of connection," Thompson said. "You can draw a line from one person to another."
Are hotel workers some of America's best spies?
Rodman's joke about a 007-like effort at Mar-a-Lago may not be out of the realm of possibility.
Thompson said U.S. intelligence officials and foreign governments often seek out hotel workers, whether a housekeeper or food-service worker, as gatherers of information because they have access to items with DNA on them.
"If you wanted to go spy on foreign nationals, if you wanted to get information on foreign nationals, if you wanted to collect DNA on foreign nationals, the first group of people you are going to recruit for you is hotel staff," he said.
A used cigarette butt, a table-setting utensil, and even a urine or stool sample can provide critical information on a foreign leader or official, such as whether they have a disease such as cancer or Parkinson's.
President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China shake hands during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on April, 6, 2017. At left are Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Peng Liyuan, Xi's wife.
An example of a local data-gathering event, he said, was the visit of China's president, Xi Jinping to Palm Beach County in April 2017. Xi and his entourage stayed at the beachfront Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, above seven miles south of Mar-a-Lago. Trump hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago during the trip.
"If you don't think there wasn't any intelligence collection with the Chinese president and the delegation at Eau Palm Beach (hotel) by U.S. intelligence, you are sorely mistaken," he said.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania sit down for Christmas dinner in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Dec. 24, 2019.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (seated, facing camera) is surrounded by aides after he and President Donald Trump, right, (blocked from view) learned of a missile launch by North Korea during a visit at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 11.
Concerns about security at Mar-a-Lago have been ongoing since Trump first became president.
During his presidency, Trump's Palm Beach visits resulted in the public display of photos showing administration officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, photos of Trump and Japan's prime minister during a North Korean missile launch, and even photos of the briefcase containing U.S. nuclear launch codes.
At Mar-a-Lago, Social Security numbers of all visitors were not generally required in advance as they are at the White House. The names of Mar-a-Lago visitors are not entered into a public log.
Sometimes, guests overheard Trump family gossip or engage in chit-chat with the Secret Service, attendees said. It was easy to blend in with all the other scions in the room if one is wearing a tuxedo or gown, attendees said.
During the course of Trump's presidency, club members eventually were required to make reservations to step foot onto the club property, even for drinks.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, left, has dinner with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on March 7, 2020.
But once there, it was business as usual. Members could linger in the main living room or at patio dinner tables, watching Trump and his entourage move about the place. Club members could bring guests, too.
In 2019, congressional Democrats demanded to know the security set up at the president's self-described "Southern White House." In particular, they asked the FBI what additional steps would be "needed to detect and deter adversary governments or their agents" from conducting electronic surveillance or gaining access to Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties.
The Secret Service issued a statement explaining that management at Mar-a-Lago, not Secret Service agents, decides who is welcome at the club.
"The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property," according to the statement. "While the Secret Service does not determine who is permitted to enter the club, our agents and officers conduct physical screenings to ensure no prohibited items are allowed onto the property."
Trump blasts search with 'drain the swamp' refrain
Trump has railed against the FBI seizure, floating theories about papers related to former President Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran and assailing the FBI for a photograph Trump said is intended to make it look like he littered the secret documents on his carpet.
"This is the time, after many years of lawbreaking & unfairness, to clean things up," he posted on his social media platform. "All things for a reason. DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!"
President Donald Trump speaks to the media after making a Christmas Eve video conference call to members of the armed forces from Mar-a-Lago on December 24, 2019.
Last week, however, Trump attorney Alina Habba seemed tounderscore the laxity of Mar-a-Lago security, including in Trump's office, where several classified documents were found. During an interview with Fox News, she said she had been in Trump's office, and he “frequently” had guests in the room.
Rodman fears it could "damage morale" for the national security workforce to see court documents alleging in detail how the very documents they so zealously defend were treated with recklessness at the former president's club.
"There is a culture among national security professionals … where there is a very strong professional ethic about taking care of this information," she said. "They understand this not only has the potential to endanger the national security of the United States, which is what we have devoted our lives to protecting. Revealing sources and methods endanger individuals. Lives can be lost, livelihoods can also be lost, because of the disclosure of this information."
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mar-a-Lago: Foreign workers at Palm Beach club upped security concerns
Alexandra Clough and Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Mon, January 16, 2023
President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club on March 9, 2019.
Like 38 other hospitality businesses in Palm Beach County, Mar-a-Lago is waiting to be told by the federal government just how many foreign temporary workers it can hire to serve members and guests during the winter tourist season.
Former President Trump's private Palm Beach club, and other locations such as the nearby Breakers Palm Beach Resort, for years routinely applied for these visas to fill low-wage, low-skilled jobs.
This year, the foreign visa program for temporary help — county-based private clubs, hotels and resorts have asked for a collective 2,266 workers — is especially important. The county's labor market, with unemployment hovering at just 3%, is especially tight with an almost 2-for-1 ratio in the number of open jobs to available unemployed workers.
Since Trump won the presidency, Mar-a-Lago was always a national security red flag
Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal
But Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal and legal firestorm over Trump's possession of top-secret documents. The discovery and seizure of those files, numbering hundreds of pages, has heaped scrutiny on the already fraught security risks presented by a private business that alternately serves as the official residence of a former commander-in-chief.
The presence of foreign workers, in the past and again starting this fall, adds to the glare on Trump's estate, which one national security analyst said already had an uncomfortable flow of people, access and volume.
Former president Donald Trump drops into the Daughters of the American Revolution Henry Morrison Flagler chapter luncheon at Mar-a-Lago Club on April 6, 2022.
Lindsay Rodman, a former White House fellow who was director for defense policy and strategy at the National Security Council, quips that Mar-a-Lago has the aura of "a classic James Bond" scene just waiting for "a heist" of secret files.
"Having tons of international guests coming back and forth from a poorly secured area puts any documents that might be found there at high risk," said Rodman, who now teaches national security, cybersecurity and foreign relations at George Washington University Law School. "It does not sound like the type of security precautions they were taking had anything to do with what we would have been seeing in the White House, the Pentagon or any of the other places I've worked with."
Mar-a-Lago asks for scores of foreign workers ahead of winter season
Mar-a-Lago this year requested to filla record 91 positions with foreign workersfor this coming year, up from 80 in 2019, according to CareerSource, the county's nonprofit job placement agency.
In addition to Mar-a-Lago, Trump also has two other Palm Beach County properties, Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.
This year, as in years past, Trump is requesting permission to hire seasonal foreign workers for these properties, too: 14 for Trump International and 10 for Trump National.
The Mar-a-Lago jobs include cooks, servers and housekeepers. The workers are needed through the balance of the winter social season — Mar-a-Lago generally operates between late October and mid-May.
The hired hands will cater to the club's members, including the many 1 percenters that descend on Palm Beach for the social season. And they will help handle what is a varied calendar of events.
Mar-a-Lago is a highly desired location for weddings, philanthropic galas, and political fund-raising luncheons and dinners.
The request for foreign workers is a two-step process involving two federal agencies.
Trump resort hired undocumented workers
Secret service agents stand at the gate of Mar-a-Lago after the FBI issued warrants on Aug. 8, 2022.
First, the U.S. Department of Labor reviews the ask by private businesses. A Labor Department spokesman said the agency is limited to evaluating whether the need for foreign labor is warranted, meaning Mar-a-Lago's request likely will be certified.
But approval by the Department of Homeland Security also is required before a business can secure foreign workers, the Labor Department spokesman said. DHS must approve the H2B visas for temporary foreign workers.
It's not clear whether DHS is giving added scrutiny to Mar-a-Lago's request, given the ongoing investigation into Trump and the location of all classified documents or presidential records.The department did not respond to a request for comment.
President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club Saturday March 9, 2019 in Palm Beach. President Trump had just returned from golfing.
How might foreign workers seeking temp jobs in America be vetted?
But a specialist in private security, who has worked with former federal agents in various law-enforcement branches, said government agencies conduct fairly extensive vetting of foreign temporary workers. And in Palm Beach County, the employers hiring them will do some background checking, too.
"There are two stages to this," said Ross Thompson, a longtime professional in private security who is now CEO of COVAC Global in West Palm Beach.
Since 9/11, Thompson said, the foreign worker visa system has become exponentially more stringent. For example, a current passport contains all sorts of data, includingnames, aliases andaddresses, that will then be checked against databases run by the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol.
That search is largely handled by the National Vetting Center, a unit of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Thompson said. The U.S. embassy and the State Department's consular offices in the applicant's home country also will conduct thorough interviews.
"Based off that, the government is going to make a decision on whether you are a threat or not," Thompson said. "The second piece of that is whether or not you are going to actually do what you say you are going to do. Come here, work, get paid and leave. That's another big consideration they are looking at."
Thompson also notes that the choosing of employees by local hospitality businesses and companies is not a random act. He said most often the person who is being considered is a family member or a friend of an existing or former worker — or someone known to a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
"There's some degree of connection," Thompson said. "You can draw a line from one person to another."
Are hotel workers some of America's best spies?
Rodman's joke about a 007-like effort at Mar-a-Lago may not be out of the realm of possibility.
Thompson said U.S. intelligence officials and foreign governments often seek out hotel workers, whether a housekeeper or food-service worker, as gatherers of information because they have access to items with DNA on them.
"If you wanted to go spy on foreign nationals, if you wanted to get information on foreign nationals, if you wanted to collect DNA on foreign nationals, the first group of people you are going to recruit for you is hotel staff," he said.
A used cigarette butt, a table-setting utensil, and even a urine or stool sample can provide critical information on a foreign leader or official, such as whether they have a disease such as cancer or Parkinson's.
President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China shake hands during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on April, 6, 2017. At left are Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Peng Liyuan, Xi's wife.
An example of a local data-gathering event, he said, was the visit of China's president, Xi Jinping to Palm Beach County in April 2017. Xi and his entourage stayed at the beachfront Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, above seven miles south of Mar-a-Lago. Trump hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago during the trip.
"If you don't think there wasn't any intelligence collection with the Chinese president and the delegation at Eau Palm Beach (hotel) by U.S. intelligence, you are sorely mistaken," he said.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania sit down for Christmas dinner in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Dec. 24, 2019.
Analyst: Straight line from divulging data to endangering an American
In that context,last month's search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago raises fresh questions and concernsabout security at Mar-a-Lago.
An Aug. 29 federal court filing by the U.S. Department of Justice said classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were moved and hidden, and that some even ended up in Trump's desk in an office at Mar-a-Lago.
A warrant indicates the search was conducted in connection with, among other things, the Espionage Act. One statute states that people legally granted access to national defense documents or classified information are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.
That's what worries the U.S. national security community, said Rodman.
By their nature, security officials and analysts will not air their grievances, she said. But Rodman believes the national security workforce is worried "not just about the divulging of government secrets at a high level" but also those that involve intelligence gathering by people.
In that context,last month's search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago raises fresh questions and concernsabout security at Mar-a-Lago.
An Aug. 29 federal court filing by the U.S. Department of Justice said classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were moved and hidden, and that some even ended up in Trump's desk in an office at Mar-a-Lago.
A warrant indicates the search was conducted in connection with, among other things, the Espionage Act. One statute states that people legally granted access to national defense documents or classified information are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.
That's what worries the U.S. national security community, said Rodman.
By their nature, security officials and analysts will not air their grievances, she said. But Rodman believes the national security workforce is worried "not just about the divulging of government secrets at a high level" but also those that involve intelligence gathering by people.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (seated, facing camera) is surrounded by aides after he and President Donald Trump, right, (blocked from view) learned of a missile launch by North Korea during a visit at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 11.
(Shannon Donnelly / The Palm Beach Post)
"Those have the potential to really harm individual lives," said Rodman, a U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan. "Those are the ones in which you can draw a straight line from divulging that information to endangering an American who's currently putting their life on the line for the American people."
Contrast the potential accessibility of Mar-a-Lago to the National Security Council, or the White House's West Wing and Oval Office, where access is restricted according to various levels of security clearance.
She said security clearance there, and in Washington in general, is a painstakingly thought-out process to make sure "those at the very, very high levels of government, senior leadership" have the information they need to make "fully informed decisions that affect our national security for the American people."
"Trump" and "MAGA" purses sit on a poolside table as guests gather before the start of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County's Lincoln Day Dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach Friday, March 16, 2018. (Bruce R. Bennett / The Palm Beach Post)
"Those have the potential to really harm individual lives," said Rodman, a U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan. "Those are the ones in which you can draw a straight line from divulging that information to endangering an American who's currently putting their life on the line for the American people."
Contrast the potential accessibility of Mar-a-Lago to the National Security Council, or the White House's West Wing and Oval Office, where access is restricted according to various levels of security clearance.
She said security clearance there, and in Washington in general, is a painstakingly thought-out process to make sure "those at the very, very high levels of government, senior leadership" have the information they need to make "fully informed decisions that affect our national security for the American people."
"Trump" and "MAGA" purses sit on a poolside table as guests gather before the start of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County's Lincoln Day Dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach Friday, March 16, 2018. (Bruce R. Bennett / The Palm Beach Post)
Concerns about security at Mar-a-Lago have been ongoing since Trump first became president.
During his presidency, Trump's Palm Beach visits resulted in the public display of photos showing administration officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, photos of Trump and Japan's prime minister during a North Korean missile launch, and even photos of the briefcase containing U.S. nuclear launch codes.
At Mar-a-Lago, Social Security numbers of all visitors were not generally required in advance as they are at the White House. The names of Mar-a-Lago visitors are not entered into a public log.
Sometimes, guests overheard Trump family gossip or engage in chit-chat with the Secret Service, attendees said. It was easy to blend in with all the other scions in the room if one is wearing a tuxedo or gown, attendees said.
During the course of Trump's presidency, club members eventually were required to make reservations to step foot onto the club property, even for drinks.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, left, has dinner with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on March 7, 2020.
But once there, it was business as usual. Members could linger in the main living room or at patio dinner tables, watching Trump and his entourage move about the place. Club members could bring guests, too.
In 2019, congressional Democrats demanded to know the security set up at the president's self-described "Southern White House." In particular, they asked the FBI what additional steps would be "needed to detect and deter adversary governments or their agents" from conducting electronic surveillance or gaining access to Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties.
The Secret Service issued a statement explaining that management at Mar-a-Lago, not Secret Service agents, decides who is welcome at the club.
"The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property," according to the statement. "While the Secret Service does not determine who is permitted to enter the club, our agents and officers conduct physical screenings to ensure no prohibited items are allowed onto the property."
Trump blasts search with 'drain the swamp' refrain
Trump has railed against the FBI seizure, floating theories about papers related to former President Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran and assailing the FBI for a photograph Trump said is intended to make it look like he littered the secret documents on his carpet.
"This is the time, after many years of lawbreaking & unfairness, to clean things up," he posted on his social media platform. "All things for a reason. DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!"
President Donald Trump speaks to the media after making a Christmas Eve video conference call to members of the armed forces from Mar-a-Lago on December 24, 2019.
Last week, however, Trump attorney Alina Habba seemed tounderscore the laxity of Mar-a-Lago security, including in Trump's office, where several classified documents were found. During an interview with Fox News, she said she had been in Trump's office, and he “frequently” had guests in the room.
Rodman fears it could "damage morale" for the national security workforce to see court documents alleging in detail how the very documents they so zealously defend were treated with recklessness at the former president's club.
"There is a culture among national security professionals … where there is a very strong professional ethic about taking care of this information," she said. "They understand this not only has the potential to endanger the national security of the United States, which is what we have devoted our lives to protecting. Revealing sources and methods endanger individuals. Lives can be lost, livelihoods can also be lost, because of the disclosure of this information."
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mar-a-Lago: Foreign workers at Palm Beach club upped security concerns
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