Amid questions, first lady’s parents gaining permanent legal status

The parents of first lady Melania Trump have become legal permanent residents of the United States and are close to obtaining their citizenship, according to people familiar with their status, but their attorney declined to say how or when the couple gained their green cards.

Immigration experts said Viktor and Amalija Knavs very likely relied on a family reunification process that President Donald Trump has derided as “chain migration” and proposed ending in such cases.

The Knavses, formerly of Slovenia, are living in the country on green cards, according to Michael Wildes, a New York-based immigration attorney who represents the first lady and her family.

“I can confirm that Mrs. Trump’s parents are both lawfully admitted to the United States as permanent residents,” he said. “The family, as they are not part of the administration, has asked that their privacy be respected so I will not comment further on this matter.”

The Knavses are now awaiting scheduling for their swearing-in ceremony, according to a person with knowledge of the parents’ immigration filings.

Questions over the Knavses’ immigration status have escalated since Trump campaigned for the White House on a hard-line antiimmigration agenda. Those questions grew sharper last month, when the president proposed ending the decadeslong ability of U.S. citizens to sponsor their parents and siblings for legal residency in the United States.

Trump has repeatedly blasted the long-standing policy as “chain migration.”

—

In last month’s State of the Union, the president called that process a threat to Americans’ security and quality of life. Under his plan, he said, only spouses and minor children could be sponsored for legal residency.

But immigration experts said such a path would have been the most likely method his in-laws would have used to obtain residency that permits them to live in the United States.