The Billionaire Hypocrites

I’m glad most of you read LGM while seated in front of a screen or on your phone because the fact that gigantic MAGA billionaires exploit the hell out of Latin American labor, much of which is undocumented, will no doubt knock you off your feet if you are standing.

When JD Vance delivered a speech about the US economy late last year at a Uline facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he talked up the Trump 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 multi-billion 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 and Wisconsin.

“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, 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.

But the Uihleins seem like such good morally upright people!