Melania’s parents become US citizens via ‘chain migration’

New York, Aug. 10: The Slovenian-born parents of Melania Trump became US citizens at a naturalization ceremony in New York on Thursday, reportedly taking advantage of a family reunification programme President Donald Trump has vehemently denounced. Trump’s inlaws Viktor and Amalija Knavs took the oath of citizenship, their immigration lawyer Michael Wildes confirmed.

Asked if they had obtained citizenship under a programme derisively branded “chain migration” by the president, Wildes replied: “I suppose.” He said chain migration, which allows naturalised US citizens to sponsor close relatives for permanent residency, was a “dirtier” way of characterising what he called “a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification. ”

Trump has taken a hardline on immigration policy, criticising so-called chain migration.

The Republican President has said such a system steals jobs from Americans and threatens national security, calling for a merit-based system that gives preference to more educated, English-speaking professionals.

Writing on Twitter in November, Trump made his views on the system clear. “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 frequently cites the example of Sayfullo Saipov, a naturalised immigrant from Uzbekistan who drove a rented truck down a busy bike path in New York in October, killing 8 people and injuring 12.