#Melania Trump sponsored her mother to #immigrate to the #UnitedStates through a family-based process that #Trump aggressively sought to end, acc/to federal #immigration records released Mon.
The records detail for the first time the full path that the fmr first lady’s mother, Amalija Knavs, followed from Slovenia to the #US — & how the Trump admin’s policies would have made that far more difficult for others.
#Melania Trump used a #legal pathway that #Trump & his top advisers repeatedly disparaged as “chain migration,” the right of US #citizens to bring their parents to the #UnitedStates. #Federal#law since 1965 has said #US citizens may apply to bring minor children & parents to join them in the United States w/o having to wait a long time for a #visa. Citizens may sponsor siblings & adult children, but they typically wait longer for #visas.