The Trump Organization intends to implement the use of the federal E-Verify program to check prospective hires’ employment eligibility following multiple reports that Trump golf clubs employed undocumented immigrants.

Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told The Washington Post that the expanded background checks will be used at all properties “as soon as possible,” starting with the company’s golf clubs.

Trump told the news outlet that the company used E-Verify at some, but not all, of its properties. He argued that the system is not required by law in most states, and that it is not foolproof.

{mosads}The remaining properties that do not use E-Verify have been delayed in their enrollment because of the partial government shutdown, Trump told the Post. The president triggered the 35-day shutdown when he demanded $5.7 billion for a wall along the southern border.

In an interview with the Post on Tuesday, President Trump cited the significant number of immigrants in the country illegally employed at his company’s properties as proof of the need to strengthen immigration laws. 

“I am a big proponent for allowing people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally,” the president said.

He did not directly answer questions from the Post about why he didn’t use E-Verify at more of his properties, or about why a golf club in Westchester County, New York, only recently fired a number of undocumented employees.

The Post reported on Saturday that about a dozen employees were abruptly fired earlier this month from Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County because they were found to be in the country illegally.

The firings came weeks after former employees at the Trump Bedminster property in New Jersey went public with allegations that the Trump Organization helped them and other immigrants in the country illegally obtain and keep employment.

The attorney representing one of the former employees has called for a federal and state investigation into the Trump Organization’s hiring practices.

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The president, who still owns the Trump Organization, has made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his administration. He has demanded funding for a wall along the southern border, and portrayed some immigrants as criminals who threaten the country’s security.