There has been renewed interest in how the First Lady Melania Trump and her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, gained their United States citizenship. This is because of President Donald Trump's efforts in changing the conditions under which migrants presently move into the country.
The immigration plan which Trump is presently trotting out would have seriously hampered the efforts of his own in-laws in getting into the U.S., much more in gaining their citizenship. It has also placed his wife Melania under the microscope, after her own entry into the States became a thing of interest.
The changes in Trump's policy will give more opportunity for highly skilled immigrant workers. Then, the chances for migrant family members' entry would be very limited. Considering that Melania's parents are retired and in their seventies, the only option open to them would have been by the family reunification process, the route Trump wants to limit access to.
But Trump's policy would place more opportunities for spouses as well as children of U.S. citizens to gain entry, which in turn would leave fewer green cards for parents. The Migration Policy Institute's Julia Gelatte pointed out that, to achieve what Trump is calling for, "categories for family sponsorship" would need to be "cut."
The American Immigration Lawyers Association former president, David Leopold, has pointed out that the president is closing that road by which he himself had gained an advantage. His wife and in-laws are glaring examples, something he views as an "absolute joke" and "shameful."
Fortunately, the aging couple are well past that challenge now that they have already sworn their oath to the flag; that was in August last year. The Knavs mostly reside at the Trump's private resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. They play an active role in the upbringing of their grandson, Barron, Melania's and Trump's only child.
The First Lady, then Melania Knauss (Germanized from her Slovenian name Knavs), first came to the U.S. in the mid-1990s to work as a fashion model in New York. She applied for a visa in 2000 and was granted the EB-1 visa in 2001. This became another opportunity for raised eyebrows, since this visa type is only granted to persons with exceptional abilities or have achieved distinction in their field.
Another question that came into light a few years back was the point that Melania may have been working under illegal circumstances from the time she entered the U.S., with only a tourist visa. In a wider perspective, it is a glaring and jarring picture presented where Trump's anti-immigrant views exist alongside his immigrant wife.
This lends more weight to what some have always suspected are racial issues at the core of Trump's immigration frame of mind.
Last year, he made reference to those coming from "shithole countries," mentioning Haiti and El Salvador immigrants during a White House meeting. In his opinion, the United States should instead be bringing in people from countries as Norway.
