The First Lady of the United States Melania's immigration history is now coming under scrutiny in the light of her husband President Donald Trump's new "top talent" immigration plan.
Before she even met Donald Trump, then Melania Knauss, who was a Slovenian citizen working as a model in New York in the year 2000, applied for a United States visa. In 2001, a mere five people from Slovenia were granted the EB-1 visa or the "Einstein Visa," and she was one of those.
It is interesting to note that Melania was granted American citizenship under such a visa which was earmarked for individuals who have received distinction in their field or displayed exceptional abilities, such as Olympic champions, Pulitzer Prize winners, and Oscar awardees.
When Melania became a U.S. citizen in 2006, she sponsored her parents Amalija and Viktor Knavs, who were recently granted citizenship in August.
These circumstances were earlier revealed when the President began pushing for more stringent immigration policies against the high number of green cards being issued based on family ties. Trump pointed out that the present policy discriminated "against genius" and promised that, with his new immigration plan, "we won't anymore."
At a time when the U.S. President is pushing for changes in the nation's immigration policy---which is being highly criticized---the conditions under which Melania obtained hers and her parents' legal status as U.S. citizens is now cause for interest in some quarters.
Presently, the majority of green cards being issued by immigration are based on family ties while a mere 12% is set aside for the merit-based system. In the light of this, Trump declared Thursday that his administration would increase the influx of "highly skilled immigrants" into the country (representing 57%) while limiting family sponsorship (prioritizing spouses and children) to a mere third of total immigrants.
The situation would become such that, if Melania's parents were to come under the scrutiny as the present plan being put forward by her husband, the whole process would decidedly be more difficult for Mr. and Mrs. Knauss.
Some quarters are speaking out, the First Lady's affairs aside, with concerns on the "noblest sentiments" representing the people of America reflected on the Statue of Liberty regarding Emma Lazarus' "huddled masses" inscription. It was pointed out that the U.S. immigration policy reflects (or should reflect) "fundamentally" the ideals of Americans and that what the president is doing is going against the grain of that ideal.
This controversial immigration plan was created by the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and has received the criticism of "garbage" and equated with the nature of Trump's administration.
