Billionaire Trump Donors Accused Of Abusing Visa Program To Supply Uline Warehouse Workers

LAKE FOREST, IL — Local billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein are facing allegations that their packaging supply company Uline has exploited a visa program to illegally shuttle in workers from Mexico to work in its U.S. warehouses.

In a practice called "shuttle support," Uline executives bring Mexican employees across the border on tourist or B1 visas, which are intended for temporary training, and assign them to regular warehouse duties in violation of federal immigration law, according to a Guardian investigation.

The Mexican workers are reportedly paid a lower wage than their American counterparts, with an understanding that they should tell border officials that they are entering the country for training. However, they wind up working regular shifts, with several dozen staffing company warehouses at any given time, the Guardian reported, citing internal company documents and sources.

Immigration attorneys who spoke to the Guardian suggested the worker-shuttling program was improper and could lead to civil penalties.

One suggested it was “absolutely 100 percent not allowed," while another characterized it as "clearly illegal."

Sources suggested Liz Uihlein and other top executives are aware of the shuttle program, telling the Guardian it may be connected to the company's inability to staff its warehouses under strict hiring practices such as follicle drug testing.

The Uihleins, who moved Uline’s headquarters from Waukegan to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, in 2010, have become one of the nation’s most prolific conservative political donors.

Dick Uihlein’s Restoration PAC has spent tens of millions of dollars supporting right-wing candidates who advocate stricter immigration policies, including funding advertisements for President-elect Donald Trump accusing Democrats of enabling an “immigrant invasion.”

In the 2024 election cycle alone, the couple contributed more than $130 million to Republican candidates and conservative groups, including $49 million to Restoration PAC in a single quarter.

Uline representatives declined to comment to the Guardian. Neither Liz nor Dick Uihlein has commented publicly on the allegations.

The revelations of the B1 visa "shuttle support" program come amid a national debate over H-1B visas and immigration policies ahead of Trump’s second inauguration.

In 2019, Uline filed a lawsuit against the federal government after its petition to hire a software engineer from India under the H-1B visa program was denied, but eventually withdrew the lawsuit after a subsequent visa petition was approved.

While proposed advisory commission chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy advocate for expanding H-1B visas to address labor shortages, populist elements of the "America First" base oppose such measures, citing concerns over impacts on domestic wages.

Related: Lake Forest Billionaire Has Spent Over $50 Million To Oust JB Pritzker