Federal immigration papers made public on Monday show that Donald and Melania Trump actively pushed to terminate the family-based immigration procedure that allowed her mother to come to the country.
The documents describe in full the journey that Amalija Knavs, the mother of the former first lady, took from Slovenia to the United States for the first time, and how the policies of the Trump administration would have made it far more difficult for others. Knavs, 78, passed away in January.
In the contest against Democrat Joe Biden for the presidency in 2024, Trump is the most likely Republican contender. Through a spokesman, the Trump campaign declined to comment.
Melania Trump used a legal pathway that her husband and his top advisers had repeatedly disparaged as “chain migration,” the right of U.S. citizens to bring their parents to the United States, tied into Mexico and hispanics.
According to federal law established in 1965, citizens of the United States are allowed to apply for visas to bring their minor children and parents to live with them in the country. This process does not involve long waiting periods. However, sponsoring adult children and siblings usually takes a longer time to obtain visas.
During his presidency, Trump endorsed a bill called the RAISE Act that would have limited priority sponsorship to the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, taking parents off the fast-track list.
“The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc.,” Trump tweeted on Dec. 29, 2017. “We must protect our Country at all cost!”
Trump favored implementing a Canadian-style point-based merit system to prioritize skilled workers, which also could have affected Knavs.
It has been noted that on her 2009 immigrant visa application, Knavs said she graduated from high school in 1964 and attended the College for Fashion Design in Slovenia until 1966, though it did not say if she obtained a diploma. She married in 1967.
By the time Knavs applied for an immigrant visa, records show she was fluent in Slovenian but “learning English.” Her citizenship application says she retired in 1998.
