Did Melania Trump's parents use 'chain migration' to move to United States?
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First Lady Melania Trump’s parents are legal permanent residents of the United States according to the Washington Post, and are close to becoming citizens.Veuer’s Sam Berman has the full story.
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First lady Melania Trump’s parents are legal permanent residents and are close to securing their U.S. citizenship.
But did they get there under the legal immigration process President Trump himself has repeatedly criticized – and wants to eliminate?
Immigration experts told the Washington Post that Viktor and Amilija Knavs, originally from Slovenia, likely did rely on family-based immigration – what Trump calls “chain migration.”
Quick refresher: U.S. citizens and green card holders can sponsor their extended family to bring them to the country. A majority of the roughly one million foreigners who are allowed to enter the United States to become permanent residents every years can do so because they’re related to Americans.
Trump has blasted the process, arguing that it allows uneducated, under-qualified immigrants to enter the country. Under an immigration plan he described during last month’s State of the Union, citizens would only be allowed to sponsor their spouses and minor children.
But sponsorship from their daughter was most likely the way the Knavs family obtained their green cards.
Their immigration lawyer, Michael Wildes, didn’t comment on how they got green cards.
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We know that Melania Trump is a legal immigrant of the U.S. but what of her parents? Nathan Rousseau Smith dives in.
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“I can confirm that Mrs. Trump’s parents are both lawfully admitted to the United States as permanent residents,†he told The Post. “The family, as they are not part of the administration, has asked that their privacy be respected so I will not comment further on this matter.â€
Experts said another option would have been for an employer to sponsor them, but that would be unlikely since the Knavses are reportedly retired. Additionally, foreigners can petition for refugee status, which also seems unlikely.
Melania Trump became a U.S. citizen in 2006, the year after she married Donald Trump. She first came to the United States ten years before and stayed, using a visitor’s visa and a work permit.
The Knavses have lived on and off with the Trumps for many years.
Contributing: Alan Gomez
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President Trump and first lady Melania Trump spent part of their long weekend in Florida, staring Feb. 16, 2018, visiting Broward Health North hospital in Pompano Beach, Fla., following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., three days earlier. They were accompanied by Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, left, when they met with medical staff.Â
First lady Melania Trump wore a bright red coat by Calvin Klein for her cookie-making visit to the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health, where she met Amber Negrete, 8, right seated, Annie Ribas, 9, left, and Katherine Faughn, 6, center seated.Â
The first family’s first weekend at Camp David started on June 17, 2017. Mrs. Trump chose an embroidered pinstripe white dress by Gabriela Hearst, plus flats, for the occasion, according to White House Wardrobe on Twitter. Their son, Barron, 11, was wearing soccer gear, and President Trump, who’s rarely seen in anything but a suit, had ditched his tie. Melania’s parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, also went along on the ride to the rustic presidential refuge about 70 miles from the White House in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains.Â
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