Melania Trump is rarely seen in public these days, but while her husband, Donald Trump, is attacking immigrants for "poisoning the blood" of America, she was presiding over an immigration ceremony for those who officially become citizens.
Among the things the former first lady told the crowd is that her life as the wife of a self-described billionaire was difficult.
“My personal experience of traversing the challenges of the immigration process opened my eyes to the harsh realities people face, including you, who try to become U.S. citizens,” Mrs. Trump told the crowd.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a long-time friend of Mrs. Trump's who had a very public breakup over her tell-all book pointed out the problem with the Trumps trying to have it both ways.
"Donald Trump said immigrants are 'poisoning the blood of our country,'" said Wolkoff. "Melania Trump and Ivana Trump, 2 out of 3 of Donald’s wives, were immigrants who became naturalized citizens. A child’s blood composition reflects a combination of genetic material from both the mother and father. So what is he saying?"
It adds to further questions about Mrs. Trump's actual citizenship process. Most people applying for asylum or citizenship have to fight for years. Some even take a decade or more, even if they did everything by the book from the start. Even those who marry a U.S. citizen must typically hire an attorney to help them navigate the system. That can take years and if the person came in without being documented, they must leave the United States before coming back and then battle the paperwork.
For Melania, it should have taken a minimum of three years to four years after marriage. Raw Story reached out to the New York immigration lawyer said to have been part of the legal team that helped with the process but received no reply.
Michael Wildes, who previously represented the Trump Organization in visa battles, came out against the former president when he attempted to institute a ban on people from Muslim-majority countries entering the United States in the first months of his administration. Still, when it came time for Melania to bring her family to the United States, he worked their way through the system.
The ex-president has attacked immigrants for the process he calls "chain migration," but Wildes admitted that's what the former first lady used to get her parents, the Knavses, their citizenship.
Wildes told the New York Times chain migration is a “dirtier” way of what is “a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification.”
While his inlaws were going through the process, Trump was attacking it and those who used it, including his in-laws.
"CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!" he posted on social media.
"Since initial reports emerged in February that the Knavses had obtained permanent residency in the United States, there has been a lack of clarity about when or how the couple received green cards," the Times reported in 2018. "And unless the couple themselves divulge the timeline of their citizenship process, the applications and petitions are protected by privacy law."
All but one of Trump's heirs is from a first-generation immigrant parent. Trump himself is the son of a first-generation immigrant, as his mother moved to the U.S. from Scotland. No reporter has asked Trump yet if he feels Ivana Trump and Melania Trump are "poisoning the blood" of his Trump DNA. Nor has anyone asked if Trump feels his father's bloodline was "poisoned."
“I guess when it’s Melania’s Family, it’s ‘family reunification’ and should be applauded. Everybody else, it’s ‘chain migration’ and must be stopped," Republican strategist Ana Navarro said in 2018.
