Migrants
are “poisoning”
the country, Donald Trump constantly repeats in his campaign speeches, making the fight against immigration one of the pillars of his re-election program.
It was also a central point of his calendar when he was president between 2016 and 2020. But as revealed by the
Washington Post
, and according to federal documents published this Monday, March 25, Donald Trump actively sought to end a mechanism family reunification that her mother-in-law herself used to immigrate to the United States.
Amalija Knavs, mother of the former first lady and who died last January, indeed joined Uncle Sam's lands from Slovenia via a legal mechanism in force in the United States since 1965. This mechanism allows American citizens to bring their parents, or their minor children, to the country, avoiding the usual administrative burden to obtain a visa.
Melania Trump sponsored her mother to allow her to come across the Atlantic more quickly.
During his presidency, Donald Trump accused this mechanism of allowing
“chain migration”
.
He had also defended a bill which limited sponsorship only to minor children of American citizens as well as to spouses, excluding parents.
Citizenship during the Trump presidency
Donald Trump was also in favor of a system of points earned on merit to give priority to qualified workers,
“which could have made it difficult for his mother-in-law to come
,” notes the
Washington Post
.
On her 2009 visa application, Amalija Knavs had indeed indicated that she had attended secondary school until 1964 before studying at a design and fashion school in Slovenia, without specifying whether she had obtained a diploma.
She then retired in 1998. After obtaining her permanent visa in 2010, Trump's mother-in-law applied for citizenship in August 2017, a few months after Donald Trump became president of the House. White.
Amalija Knavs was then sworn in on August 9, 2018.
Michael Wildes, the mother-in-law's lawyer, declared that the family had not received any special treatment in any case, specifies the American daily.