President Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary, acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, testified at a confirmation hearing this week and said: “When you hire illegal workers you’re undercutting businesses that are doing the right thing. And you’re undercutting businesses that comply with the law.”
Sonderling — who is leading the agency after former Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April — said the Labor Department is holding employers accountable and is working “very closely” with all law enforcement partners at ICE, DHS and the Department of Justice. Sonderling emphasized that it is a federal crime to hire undocumented immigrants who are not authorized to work in the United States.
Sonderling added, “And the other thing is those jobs should be going to American workers. And we need to continue disincentivizing employers saying ‘we had to use these illegal labor because we didn’t have skilled and qualified.’”
“When you hire ILLEGAL workers you’re undercutting businesses that are doing the right thing.”
“Those jobs should be going to AMERICAN WORKERS!”
Well said, @Sonderling47. pic.twitter.com/Dmhgi3CMOy
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) July 16, 2026
Trump’s former White House chief of staff during his first administration, Mark Meadows, amplified Sonderling’s comments on social media and added, “Well said.”
MAGA-aligned U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) also applauded Sonderling and replied: “YES!! Illegal Labor undermines American workers and American businesses that are following the rules.”
Trump administration critics, citing the testimony of numerous business owners, argue that few Americans are willing to take the jobs currently held by undocumented immigrants. Many suggest the trouble attracting American workers is linked to a stagnant federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour, since 2009.
[NOTE: The minimum wage in California, where a significant percentage of agriculture industry workers are migrants, is $16.90 per hour. ZipRecruiter reports that as of July 4, 2026, the average annual pay for farm pickers in California is $34,760 a year or “approximately $16.71 an hour.” A study by the Center for Migration Studies found that California hosts 49% of undocumented agriculture workers in the U.S.]
Others are replying with accusations of hypocrisy, noting that Trump himself has a history of employing undocumented immigrants on his properties, including at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Trump Tower in New York City.
In 2017, Time magazine reported on a lawsuit linked to Trump Tower: “A demolition crew of approximately 200 undocumented Polish workers testified in a subsequent civil lawsuit that they worked 12-hour shifts without overtime and received little to no pay. Trump ultimately settled the lawsuit in 1998 for $1.4 million.”
[NOTE: After it was revealed that Trump hired undocumented workers at the New Jersey golf course, Eric Trump said the business would use e-verify, the online federal system that allows employers to confirm whether newly hired employees are authorized to work in the country, in the future. It is administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) alongside the Social Security Administration.]
According to the American Immigration Council: “E-Verify has transformed from a limited pilot into a central — yet still contested — pillar of employment and immigration policy, reflecting broader tensions between regulatory enforcement, on-the-ground realities for employers, and the evolving American economy. These challenges help explain why E-Verify was not originally mandated nationwide. The debate around E-Verify usage and its reliability and usefulness is likely to continue.”