Before Donald Trump vowed to stop some 10,000 Syrian refugees from seeking salvation in the United States, he campaigned building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to, similarly, stop undocumented immigrants from crossing.
"They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," Trump quipped in announcing his presidential candidacy last June, adding that "some, I assume, are good people." Economic ramification of deporting 11 million individuals is not something the GOP front-runner has acknowledged, nor has he found the irony in employing them for decades.
In a Los Angeles Times report released Nov. 24, Christine Mai-Duc describes how an unassuming Los Angeles factory - primarily made up of Latino immigrants - was tasked with making Trump's recognizable "Make America Great Again" hats; a Catch-22 for Trump, who promised to bring back jobs to the U.S. while giving many to a foreign-born workforce.
"To be a local manufacturer in the United States, there's so many challenges, not only in America but in California alone," Brian Kennedy, president of Cali-Fame said, estimating that about 80 percent of his employees are Latino. The Carson-based factory earned $270,000 from producing Trump's hats last quarter.
According to Kennedy, Trump's camp knows about his workers and assured them everyone had his or her immigration status verified. "I said to them, 'We're not political. We're here to work,'" Kennedy said. "And I haven't gotten any negative comments."
Trump continually leads Republican nominees in national polls, despite alienating business partners and large chunks of voter segments that can make-or-break the 2016 presidential election. Dozens of companies, including Macy's and NBC, ended their relationships with Trump following incendiary comments about Mexican, and Spanish chef José Andrés pulled out of an agreement to open a restaurant in Trump's new Washington D.C. hotel.
As far as Cali-Fame factory workers are concerned, Trump's rhetoric has been nothing but good for business.
"He's giving us a lot of work. Keeping us busy.... It's a job, I get paid to do it and it pays my bills," Yolanda Melendrez said. Melendrez - who in a separate interview said she's seen her paycheck increase by hundreds of dollars since July - said she thankful for the job Trump has given her, an immigrant from Mexico who comes from the same background as many of her co-workers.
"When we first got the order [for the Trump hats], I said to myself, 'Just wait until he sees who's making his hats. We're Latinos, we're Mexicans, Salvadoreños.'"