Melania Trump's parents have been granted US citizenship and the internet can't take the hypocrisy - Independent

August 11, 2018.

Melania Trump's parents have been granted US citizenship and the internet can't take the hypocrisy
Posted a day ago by Lowenna Waters in news 
UPVOTE 
              
On Thursday it was announced that Melania Trump's parents have been sworn in as official US citizens through sponsorship by their adult daughter.

There's one tiny issue with this - they appear to have gained citizenship through taking advantage of a family-based immigration system, otherwise known as 'chain migration', that the president himself has railed against vehemently.

Slovenian couple Viktor and Amalija Knavs, 73 and 71 respectively, gained their citizenship in a private ceremony in Manhattan, their immigration attorney Michael Wildes announced.

Asked whether they'd obtained citizenship through 'chain migration', he responded 'I suppose', reports the New York Times. ​

In November, the president railed against this type of family-based migration, which he regularly calls 'chain migration', saying that it is harmful to the US, and seeking to repeal it as a means of obtaining a green card.

In a speech in November, the president Trump tweeted:

CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

9:03 AM - Nov 2, 2017

Needless to say, it didn't take long for the internet to pick up on this apparent extreme hypocrisy.

Kyle Griffin
✔
@kylegriffin1
 Asked if the Knavses (Melania's parents) obtained citizenship through family-based immigration, sometimes called 'chain migration,' their lawyer said, "I suppose. It's a dirty — a dirtier word."

In November, Trump tweeted, "CHAIN MIGRATION must end now!" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/melania-trumps-parents-become-us-citizens.html …

6:40 AM - Aug 10, 2018
Melania Trump’s parents, Amalija and Viktor Knavs, center, with their lawyer, Michael Wildes, right, after their naturalization ceremony in Manhattan on Thursday.
Melania Trump’s Parents Become U.S. Citizens, Using ‘Chain Migration’ Trump Hates
Viktor and Amalija Knavs had a private naturalization ceremony in Lower Manhattan, after being sponsored by their daughter in a program President Trump has railed against.

nytimes.com

Benjy Sarlin
✔
@BenjySarlin
 This is the exact type of green card Trump wants to eliminate and has personally excoriated in speech after speech.

MJ Lee
✔
@mj_lee
Melania Trump sponsored her parents to obtain US green cards, a source familiar tells CNN. Today, her parents became US citizens.

7:22 AM - Aug 10, 2018

MJ Lee
✔
@mj_lee
Replying to @mj_lee
To be clear, Melania Trump sponsoring her parents is a method many, many Americans use to bring their family to the US. It just happens to be a practice that Melania's husband -- the President -- wants to do away with.

7:23 AM - Aug 10, 2018

David Nakamura
✔
@DavidNakamura
 .@DavidLeopold does not mince words in my story on @FLOTUS’s parents becoming naturalized citizens today. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/melania-trumps-parents-become-naturalized-us-citizens-amid-the-presidents-hostility-toward-chain-migration/2018/08/09/646a4f62-9bf9-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html …

5:40 AM - Aug 10, 2018

Some focused on the plight of other families at the borders.

Jonathan Van Ness
✔
@jvn
 How do you sleep at night? ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ ⁦@FLOTUS⁩ ⁦@IvankaTrump⁩ , how’s family reunification going at the border?  https://apple.news/A7hKok5KMRyOj1JocQ_kUyA …

7:17 AM - Aug 10, 2018
3,645
468 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

While others highlighted the fact that Melania's own immigration story is still unclear.

Kyle Griffin
✔
@kylegriffin1
 Reminder in light of the naturalization of Melania's parents: On this date two years ago—August 9, 2016—Trump promised that Melania would hold a press conference within the next few weeks about her immigration story.

She still has never held that press conference.

12:45 PM - Aug 10, 2018

While others tried to work out exactly how the Knavses​ could have gained citizenship.

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
 There are very limited, precise ways that someone can get a green card. If Melania Trump's parents got green cards through family reunification, @realDonaldTrump's name would be listed on their application as Melania Trump’s spouse. It's also the program Trump wants to cut.

4:28 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
You can also get a green card through unemployment. Melania Trump herself got a so-called Einstein Visa. As you may have guess, there are no such visas for extraordinary farmworkers or genius housecleaners.

4:30 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
You can also get a green card through unemployment. Melania Trump herself got a so-called Einstein Visa. As you may have guess, there are no such visas for extraordinary farmworkers or genius housecleaners.

4:30 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
Unless Melania Trump's parents have been moonlighting as Afghan or Iraqi translators, religious workers, international broadcasters, they wouldn't qualify for green card as "special immigrants." Take that one off the list.

4:32 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
Are Melania Trump's parents refugees or asylees? That's another way they could have obtained green cards. There are *very* few refugees from Slovenia or Austria, tho.

4:33 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
Were Melania Trump's parents trafficked into the US by a coyote? If so, they could get a T visa. Were they victims of a serious crime? If so, they could get a U visa. With either of these, they could then get a green card.

4:35 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
If Melania Trump's parents were from Cuba, they could try to get green cards. But they're not. So they can't and they didn't.

4:36 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
Did Melania Trump's parents take their changes with the diversity lottery? It's unlikely, given that family reunification (a program Trump wants to cut) is so much easier. Trump also wants to cut the diversity lottery btw.

4:38 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
Did Melania Trump's parents take their changes with the diversity lottery? It's unlikely, given that family reunification (a program Trump wants to cut) is so much easier. Trump also wants to cut the diversity lottery btw.

4:38 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
If Melania Trump's parents had been here since 1972, they could apply for green cards through the registry program. Seems highly unlikely, however.

4:39 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Aura Bogado
✔
@aurabogado
Replying to @aurabogado
That's it. Those are the ways @MELANIATRUMP's parents could have gotten green cards. That's why so many immigration attorneys say it likely happened through family reunification. Again, that's the program Donald Trump wants to cut. Read more here: https://www.revealnews.org/blog/here-are-eight-ways-melanias-parents-could-have-received-green-cards/ …

4:42 AM - Mar 6, 2018

Here are 8 ways Melania Trump’s parents could have received green cards
Of the ways they could have received green cards, family reunification, dubbed "chain migration" by President Donald Trump, is most likely.

revealnews.org

In March this year, it was reported the Melania Trump gained citizenship of the US through an 'Einstein visa' in 2001. Only five people from Slovenia were granted green cards in the US under the programme in 2001, according to the US State Department, and in that year only 3,376 of the over 1 million green cards issued were for immigrants who had 'extraordinary ability'. At the time of her citizenship approval, the future First Lady's achievements amounted to a successful modelling career.

HT CNN