Trump administration seeks to remove ‘illegal aliens’ but Uline’s past employment practices reveal a different reality

WhenJD Vancedelivered a speech about the US economy late last year at a Uline facility in Allentown,Pennsylvania, he talked up theTrump administration’s key goals: removing “illegal aliens” from the country, rewarding companies that keep jobs in the US and paying Americans good wages.

“We’re going to reward companies that build here in America and give good wages to do it,” Vance said.

The venue was no accident. Uline, a multibillion-dollar privately held office supply company, is owned by Liz and Richard Uihlein, two of the biggest donors to Maga Republicans in the 2024 election.

But when it comes to immigration, Uline’s employment practices over the last several years provide an alternative picture of how the US economy works in the real world.

For years,the Guardian reported in an investigation first published in December 2024, Uline relied on what it called a “shuttle program”, a scheme in which Uline brought workers from Mexico to staff warehouses in Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania for weeks and even months at a time, using visas that are meant for workers who are being trained – not working regular full-time jobs.

Uline has never responded to the Guardian’s questions about the shuttle program, which sources familiar with the program say abruptly ended in 2024, after the Guardian’s story was published.

Now, for the first time, a former Uline employee named Christian Valenzuela, 42, has come forward to share his experience in the shuttle program, including stints in Allentown, where Vance spoke in December.

Uline travel itineraries, which Valenzuela shared with the Guardian, show he made at least five trips to the US beginning in early 2022, and worked in the company’s facilities in Pennsylvania, Florida andWisconsin.

“They told us we had to go to the United States because there were not many people who were working at that time. It was around the time of the pandemic,” he said in an interview. Uline did pay the Mexican workers a bonus and gas money, and paid for accommodations, but they were paid their usual Mexican wage, Valenzuela said. The Guardian has previously reported this was a fraction of what their American counterparts earned.

Source: Drudge Report