Melania Trump's Parents Become US Citizens

Melania Trump's parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs became US citizens recently after a naturalization ceremony in New York. The immigration process took almost one year. However, President Donald Trump has called for a new law to stop Americans from initiating citizenship for their parents and relatives.

Viktor and Amalija Knavs have been living in the US as legal permanent residents for past few years after leaving their native home in Slovenia. Michael Wildes, the lawyer for the Viktor and Amalija Knavs said, “Citizenship was just awarded, they have prevailed in a wonderful journey as millions have”.

Both the US President and his wife Melania have avoided commenting on the issue. The spokeswoman for the first lady, Stephanie Grisham, also declined to comment and said, “as they are not part of the administration”.

In February this year, some media reports confirmed the issue of the Knavs had gained legal permanent residency in the US and legal experts believe it was initiated by the first lady who had sponsored their applications for the green cards.

Lawyer Michael Wildes has confirmed that Knavs has followed all the rules that are required to apply for citizenship. Now the permanent residents will hold their green cards for five years before they can apply for the US citizenship. Wildes also informed that the Knaves received no special treatment because of their relationship with the first family.

He said, “The application, the process, the interview was no different than anybody else's, other than the security arrangements to facility today. This is an example of it going right. They're very excited”.

Questions are now being raised on US President Donald Trump, who has pushed to end legal immigration and also constraint the ability of US Citizen to sponsor their parents, adult children, and siblings for green cards.

According to the Department of Home Security, in the year 2016, the United States granted nearly 1.2 million green cards, out of which only 174,000 went to parents of US citizens. According to a study, it is shown that immigrants have boosted the economy of the United States and committed fewer crimes in comparison to the native-born.

The immigration path of the first lady has also been scrutinized. A former model, Melania Knauss first arrived in New York in the year 1996 and her relationship with Donald Trump started in the year 2000. Melania was granted a green card in 2001 under the elite EB-1 scheme, which was designed to allow only the renowned academic researchers, multinational business executives or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors to apply for US citizenship.

Viktor and Amalija Knavs raised Melania Trump in the rural town of Sevnica, at a time when Slovenia was a part of Yugoslavia. Melania’s father 74-year-old Viktor Knavs was a car dealer whereas her mother 73-year-old Amalija Knavs worked in a textile factory.