In the midst of controversial immigrant policy at the border, President Trump's winter home is requesting to hire 40 foreign workers on H-2B visas.
"It's ironic, I don't understand," said Mercy Mendoza in Spanish. "My opinion is why not give us the opportunities, immigrants who are here undocumented."
12 years ago Mercy and her family paid coyotes thousands of dollars to smuggle them into the U.S.
Former Chairman of the GOP in Palm Beach County Sid Dinerstein believes human trafficking is the enemy, not the immigrant visa work programs.
"These people have rights. This is very important. There's minimum wage laws that affect them, there's health insurance that affects them, there's housing that affects them," said Dinerstein about the protections immigrant workers under work visas receive.
Dinerstein said hires through the H-2B visas, which cover waiters and waitresses, are very common in Palm Beach County.
"It's not like there's a great outcry of people saying we're qualified and they won't hire us," he said.
But at the end of the visa term, foreign workers have to go home. Mercy said there was no life for her in Guatemala. Now she has three children who are U.S. citizens and is afraid of being separated from them.
"The president's zero-tolerance policy is detaining a lot of people and now his business is asking for more to work for him? It's just unbelievable," added Mercy.
The request for H-2B visa hires is for a seasonal term from October to end of May next year. The wage proposed is a minimum of $12.68 an hour.
