I personally will support the path of citizenship so that families can stay together in the US
Will oppose strongly separation of young children from their parents at the border
Trump's hypocrisy can not diminish my support for "chain immigration"
19
I'm surprised y'all didn't interview a bunch of trump voters and put together another profile about them and how they feel about this.
15
Hey, lots of people are counting Mr. Trump's lies, but is anyone counting his high-profile hypocrisies?
20
Two of his three wives came from other countries. Where would he be if they were not able to migrate?
13
No small ironies (or hypocrisy) Melania's parents beneficiaries of immigration policy's being destroyed by her shameless husband. Kinda like being against bullying while remaining married to the biggest media bully of today not to mention a misogynistic LIAR. Sad. Very sad.
Melania's a loser if only by remaining married to trump. No doubt the prenup terms are a bigly part of their marriage of convenience. Just sayin.
27
I guess the "chain Migration" that Trump deplores so vehemently can end now that he has slipped the Knavses through the process. He also states how do we know these relatives aren't terrorists? Gosh, maybe these folks from Slovenia could be, who knows.
I read this article following the Opinion piece by Kelly Pinos about her father's (Nelson Pinos) plight as a law abiding undocumented immigrant facing deportation and was sickened by the contrast. guess, it all depends on who you know.
13
Mass legal and illegal immigration, chain migration and all the crime and exploitation and corruption our 'open borders' culture creates have totally distorted and corrupted our whole society so of course everyone is tarnished by the ongoing stupidity of the US's immigration anarchy status quo! Trump's hotels obviously also have to use the same desperate immigrants and temp visa workers the rest of the hotel industry does or be outcompeted into bankruptcy too. What we obviously need to do is to simply end mass immigration in all its forms, as we had to stop the slave trade and then mandate the end of black plantation slavery in order to stop all its human rights abuses and associated criminality and societal damages to our society.
1
Since Mrs Trump's parents are not part of "Trump administration", I don't think their personal data should be posted. Personal information, such as photos and data about one person's immigration status should be released only with the consent of the data subject. They are not "persons of public interest" and their private life has to be respected by Mass Media. Average people are not like "the Kardashians" and aren't so familiar with publicity. After all they are only being used for attacks against Mr. Trump. Especially after Jacob Bernstein incident and his comment about Mrs Trump, many people think that this "undermined your paper’s credibility and reputation". (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/public-editor/melania-trump-emily-rat...
4
Hypocrisy? Nothing new here.
17
If a government immigration policy resulted in my foreign in-laws being able to stay in this country and spend more time in my house I would hate it too.
11
Questions about chain migration aren't new. The quote below is from a law firm advising clients/prospective clients IN 2011.
"In many cases, the U.S. Embassy or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may ask a petitioner to submit a DNA test proving the parental or brother/sister relationship with the beneficiary. Some people are taken aback by this request since they feel that the birth certificate is sufficient in proving the relationship.
The first reason why a DNA test may be requested is because the U.S. Department of State at one time had a fraud warning posted on Guyana birth certificates. The reason for the fraud warning was because it was believed that people could obtain a fraudulent birth certificate from the black market in Guyana. Thereby, if the birth certificate presented displays any characteristics of fraud, then a DNA test will be required between the petitioner and beneficiary.
"Next, a DNA test may be required when a parent is filing for a child and that child was born out-of-wedlock, meaning the parents were not married. In particular, when a father is filing for a child and the father never married the child’s mother, then a DNA test may be required."
https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/06/12/immigration-talk-why-is-dn...
2
I am somewhat conservative in many of my views. My wife is an immigrant and when I hear Trump going on and on about "chain" migration it really bothers me. I could understand if he is talking about keeping terrorists from entering the country, but my wife's nieces and nephews that have tech degrees would be great to have here in America. She would really like to have her mom come to live with us here also. Obviously her 70 yr old mom does not have any degree and I cringe when he talks about chain migration because I feel like he is talking directly to our family. If my wife wants her mom here and we sign papers that we will support her, there should be no problem. Just a note, when my wife came here I had to sign papers that said she would not take any public aid, no food stamps or welfare or I would have to pay it back and that if she ran away or disappeared I would have to pay all fees associated with deportation ect. I think most Americans have a misconception that when immigrants come here they get all these benefits from the government. That is not true. Refugees get all free benefits, not legal immigrants.
12
Yugoslavia was not part of the eastern bloc. Just had to say that.
We need to deport her parents and review her papers. Just like Trump demanding Obama’s birth certificate. No more Eastern Europeans until DACA is finished! Can we deport Trump and family to Russia?
18
Be Best, Melania. Confront your husband on his crusade to end family reunification (chain migration). Now that your parents are here maybe you can insist on the same for all immigrants. Do something worthwhile.
14
The NYTimes should have posted pictures of children being taken from their parents at the Mexican border next to the smiling Knavs being escorted to their naturalization ceremony.
13
Of all the things that Trump is doing or has done, this is the least of my worries. This is entirely insignificant and diversionary. We should be looking at the bigger picture. At least they did it legally and won't be leeching off of unearned federal benefits, as many chain migrated elders do, even when their relatives/children can afford to pay.
3
@Lee
Everything trump does or does not do should concern us. Money is not the only test of how important something is. America is at risk of losing its essence. Without respect for all people, without respect for our First Amendment, no tax cut will save us. Many of us had ancestors who came here through chain immigration. You don’t shut the door after you reach safety and say no more.
10
They have money and will not drain federal coffers, it's not a big deal.
2
@There
You mean to say that they will refuse healthcare and social security.
No chance.
Their son in law NEVER pays out of his own pocket that which someone, anyone else will pay.
Mind you they never paid into the system.
Shame, shame on them all!
And the absolute nerve. They could have waited to do this when it is not so politically charged.
Just rubbing our faces in it that people connected to power can do anything. Not that this couple did anything wrong. Or did they?
9
@There and unlike other immigrants they won't pay taxes or take jobs that native Americans refuse to do. The Trumps are the biggest leaches - draining the federal coffers to jet around to investment properties, refusing to show tax returns, off-shoring jobs - just generally a bunch of moral low lifes. And now there's two more of them for us to support.
15
I hope Medicare did not pay for that boot on Melania's Dad's leg. Isn't that one way this administration is limiting legal immigration?
7
Let us consult the Trump dictionary... "Chain Migration" - when other families attempt to reunify in the US.
Any questions?
6
Will they contribute to society?
Will they speak English?
Will they work? Pay taxes?
Will they speak well of the United States?
If so, welcome!
5
Different rules for the rich and the poor?
But don’t worry Red America...this Administration will stand by you.
8
Does this make them eligible for Medicare?
3
Trump claimed that not paying taxes was "smart" and people voted him President. Expecting anyone to care about his hypocrisies misses the point.
The real question is why do people feel that he understands them and has their back, when he so evidently does not. Trump understands something many dems don't, something Bush understood and Kerry/Gore/Clinton didn't. Running for president is only part a job interview. The far greater part is like meeting the family, and that's a test republicans seem more prepared for. More dems need to attend churches, and not the hymn singing ones, unless it's black gospel. Stop with all the studies and start speaking truths. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have it right. Connect with people or you'll lose to a lying hypocrite people still like because he tells them he's a rascal and they know it!
4
“Chain migration is over. Viktor and Amalija Knavs are the last ones I’m allowing to enter this magnificent country and confidentially I would have preferred the door was closed a little bit sooner!” -DJT
4
Trump cannot keep track of his own hypocrisies.
7
Why aren't there hecklers at his rallies to counter all the hypocrisy that he spews? Why do the mainstream media continue to play by his rules and assemble themselves in a pen to be ridiculed?
5
"William White, a 74-year-old actor, said, with his eyebrows raised, “I’m happy for them.”
He went on: “It seems like we now have two immigration systems. One for the people who have no power, and one for the people who we are letting in through the V.I.P. entrance. We saw an example of that today.”"
You are correct, sir
7
Maybe the prospect of having his mother-in-law around inspired his support for chain migration ban.
I can't imagine they approve about how he treated Melania
2
This is OK for Melania's family, but not so much for several hundred small children who are locked up in detention centers.
I see.
11
The issue with chain migration has nothing to do with skin color and everything to do with the cost of chain migration. Many family reunification immigrants got off the plane and were driven directly to the nearest Social Security and/or welfare office. This was done in violation of the American citizen immigrant who requested visas for his/her family members:
"What are the requirements for family visas?
Sponsor in the U.S., application, numerous screenings and background checks, interview, fee and medical examination. The sponsoring relative, who must be over the age of 18 (in some cases 21) and reside in the U.S., is first required to file a petition for his or her family member(s) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In this petition, they must prove the legitimacy of their relationship and that they meet income requirements. The sponsor must also submit a signed affidavit of support stating that he or she will be financially responsible for the applicant(s). Each prospective immigrant then undergoes extensive background and security checks, including criminal, national security, health-related and other screenings. USCIS also examines all the green card applications to determine the immigrant will not likely become a public charge who will need public assistance."
This is the law - but the law was ignored and the immigrants knew it would be ignored.
2
Trump says “do as I say, not as I do”. Poor parenting, I mean leadership! He said this example was ok because these migrants are white.
6
I am shockingly not shocked. We are so upside-down I don't recognize my country, our country, any longer. Do you?
8
This is simple. They are white Europeans with “connections”. Welcome to the alternate universe of double standards and absolute hypocrisy that is the world of Donald Trump and his supporters. Nothing to see here.... keep moving.
13
Wait wait, I thought only the AltRight relied on "What About-ism"?
1
@Mike S This is not whataboutism, it is calling out Trump's hypocrisy regarding his very public attacks on chain migration.
6
If I'm not mistaken on citizenship applications a question - are you now or have you ever been a member of a Communist organization. If not for connections, I doubt the Knavs parents would have been approved for naturalization.
13
Now the parents can legally take a knee during the national anthem without fear of deportation.
7
Bracing myself for Trump to end family migration any day now... He's reaped the benefits, so nothing's stopping him from ruining it for the rest of us.
7
Look at the bright side: 45 provides us with yet ANOTHER unequivocal example of his own egregious hypocrisy!
If we survive this clown, one day in the future folks will be able to PROVE both quantitatively AND qualitatively that 45 is without doubt the W.O.A.T. (worst of all time) president.
12
The irony is rich. I would like to point out the hypocrisy, but then this administration is tone deaf and racist. So any suggestion of hypocrisy will be lost on them.
9
Trump doesn't hate chain migration, he hates any type of migration involving people of color.
12
Bingo.
3
Laws don't apply to trump and his family.
10
Another demonstration of how crooked this man is.
6
Can't wait to hear Fox News tear into him over this one!
8
Racist bigotry still colors his perview...and since he espouses no moral or ethical foundation or framework should we drink the kool-aid and hope for the best?
3
Trump is a racist and only opposed immigration of brown people.
6
Mr Trump doesn't hate or like anything. He reacts according to what he thinks his people want to hear. He is a businessman and winning elections is a business.
1
Melania believes in chain migration and she watches CNN. She doesn't care, do you?
7
Hey White People/Trump Supporters...
You're all immigrants. Please leave my country.
Sincerely,
Native Americans.
19
Technically you are also an immigrant. I would call native Americans - first Americans .....
2
@V But which Native Americans?
Anthropologists' tests have shown that the American Indians were not the first to populate North America.... there were others here before them.
And I say that as a part-Cherokee, part-Irish, part English native born American!!
2
Immigrants have been flocking to Florida & California to have their children (many at Trump-branded hotels). I guess if they have lots of money it's ok, but if you're poor and fleeing violence they lock you up in a cage...unjust.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/birth-tourism-brings-russian-baby-b...
8
Really....now we have family members of the Communist Party living in the White House and no one has a problem with it?
13
Trump hates brown and black chain-migrants. Lighter skinned folks are OK, especially if they are part of his family, or part of his crime family. Good thing the Knavs got in when they did, Trump has a habit of trading in old wives for younger ones... although that has never stopped him from getting under the covers with anyone else. Ah, the perils of being a trophy wife....
13
The man has what appears to be a soft cast on his right leg. Was that cast in any way paid for with taxpayer funds?
If so he is one of those immigrant takers, and should be deported tomorrow.
7
'Asked if the Knavses had obtained citizenship through “chain migration,” their lawyer, Michael Wildes, said, “I suppose.” '
He's their lawyer - doesn't he know for sure? So disingenuous.
10
Melania comes to the The United States on an "Einstein Visa" as was a model, deplorable President colors himself a "stable genius." They sound quite suitable for each other.
9
Of course he "hates" chain migration.
Why would he want his in laws to come see the abuse he inflicts on Melania?
4
This is just another hypocrisy that is Trump and obviously Melania too.
I guess it goes to show that Melania is all about the appearance of propriety, no substance. How disappointing.
I have no objection to her parents becoming US Citizens. I do have a problem with them not being sworn in the same way all immigrants are sworn in. Security concerns are rubbish. Most Americans do not even know their names. I guess rank has its privilege .
All this said, how Trump can even utter a word on chain migration is nuts. Can"t his base figure out that this man cannot be trusted with their future. After all, Trump cages children. Who can trust a man who cages innocent children. Last time I heard of this was when Hitler was in power.
And if Trump really wanted to stop illegal immigration, why not put more Ports of Entry along our borders so that people wanting to come here would at least have a chance to be interviewed before deciding if they were refugees seeking asylum.
If Trump was really against illegal immigration, he would do away with the HB Visa program, as this is how a bunch of illegal immigrations have happened. But if he did that, his business cronies would have a fit. This is how they import labor.
What a farce.
9
Almost forgot, Laura Ingraham ugly racist rant on Fox last night openly feeding hate to her audience, this is not just sad this is atrocious, how she even allowed to be on TV.
TheState emergency is declared ahead of Charlottesville anniversary and Fox network doing their racist horror show, just like their president.
13
Now that they're citizens the Knavses need jobs! Hey they're living at the White House on the taxpayer's dime. It's a family business, let them join the cabinet, there's always room for relatives, one big happy family.
9
They have the three things Trump desires:
1) they’re white
2) have money
3) supported the Communists
Al the traits of the modern Republican.
9
Chain migration, for black and brown people.
Family reunification, for white people.
6
I think the unspoken fact in all this that Melania's parents are from Europe - for Trump voters, that's all the qualification they need to migrate into America.
9
One rule for Trump, another for everyone else.
6
Ah, hypocrisy - thy name is Trump.
8
Is a Mar-A-Lago country club membership included with the private immigration ceremony?
4
In Trump world, any "hatred," including this one, only applies to people of color. Trump and his supporters don't even pretend to feel otherwise (see Laura Inghram's latest repellent tirade last night).
5
How quickly the population forgot Trumps promise to show Melania did everything legal to work in this country and stay.
What is his pat answer to everything....."I will show you in two weeks". For some reason in this country people seem to forget in 1 day! I don't recall anything proving her right to work here legally ever being shown. We all know Melania's parents had special privilege and if all was on the up and up, why the back door acceptance on a very big day? Because he doesn't want to bring attention to his hypocrisy when it is for and all about him and his family.
5
Trump's grandfather: uneducated, undesirable draft dodging German immigrant. Trump's mother: uneducated Scots immigrant. Trump's first wife: immigration law busting Czech immigrant. Trump's third wife: immigration law busting Slovenian immigrant. Trump's in-laws: chain migration immigrants riding on Trump's third wife's citizenship. Trump on immigration: the height of hypocrisy. And let's not forget that Trump's father was a WWII war profiteer while no one in the family has ever served in our armed forces, as quite a few DACA and other immigrant volunteer to do. Case closed.
19
I'm an 11th generation American -- my first ancestor came here in 1636 -- and I have no problem with new immigrants coming to this country to better themselves. Who is this upstart Trump -- whose criminal, brothel-owning grandfather came here a mere 140 years ago -- and why should he dictate who can or can't be admitted?
10
@Stevem
His family has been here 140 years?
I hope the democrats and the media will beat this drum long and loud. It's a simple and very compelling way to illustrate the stunning hypocrisy of this administration.
7
I do not believe that Trump or most other people object to any immigrant based on color of their skin.
To me it is simply a matter of whether or not you have the money to support yourself here. If you do, come on over.
I do not want to spend a dime on medicaid or welfare for immigrants coming to be "reunited" with their immigrant family members.
5
@ny surgeon I agree. The issue is not the color of their skin. The issue is green - the color of money.
Family reunification requests became a real issue when legal immigrant parents from some countries were requesting visas for more and more children. When - years ago, before Trump was president - the government began requiring DNA testing to prove the 'child' belonged to the parents, the requests for family reunification visas dropped off - way off.
1
@Azalea Lover
Agree- Green is the relevant color. And nobody, other than a legitimate asylum seeker, should be allowed in unless they can demonstrate that they can pay for healthcare and everything else that they need, AND have a job.
@ny surgeon
Compare Trump's comments on people of color with those on white people and see if there isn't a difference.
I love how conservatives are always worried about paying for immigrants. Do you mind paying for miners -- mostly white men -- to have health insurance? What about programs for opioid addicts (also mostly white)?
I think whatever immigrants contribute to the U.S. far outweighs whatever they "cost." -- thegamesmenplay.com
4
Do as I say, but not as I do?
4
Why in the article photo they have police escorts? Are they that entitled? Silly me, of course they are they are 45's in laws and I'm sure their paper work was expedited as well.
4
“Foreigners! My family has had troubles with Foreigners ever since we moved to this here country!” Senator Rwakins, from Finian’s Rainbow, a Broadway play, 1947, by Harburg & Saidy.
Some things never change.
6
This is why the media is on the defensive. The headline "Trump hates..."is not something I have heard him say. I am not a Trump supporter but he has said he doesn't like chain migration, which is a far cry from hate....
2
we've seen enough to know that the President is a hypocrite. why does this surprise us?
8
We all know what this is about; Trump and his base are really only against the migration of BROWN people. If you support a racist, you are a racist.
15
Ah the elite who believe laws do not apply. Well this is the USA of sooner or later the underdog gets to bite back. WE are taking notes.
5
How many times daily do we read stories like this and say to ourselves..."So what else is new?"
7
Melania's parents better not be able to draw Social Security and Medicare since they contributed nothing to them... and therefore are not entitled to them.
14
Did Trumps do something that is legal? They followed and satisfied the requirements. They are under no obligation to agree with Trump or to deny themselves of this opportunity just because he doesn't like the program. The man problem is not what Trump likes or dislikes. It the total shirking of responsibility by congress to pass a comprehensive immigration program. Trump me with Pelosi and Schumer lat yeas concerning the Dreamers. He told them to pass something and put it on his desk and he would sign it. The result, nothing. As far as I can find, they didn't even try. The Dreamers are value to them politically than the dreamers are themselves. This lack of doing their duty to pass an immigration program has been going on for years and through different presidents. But if the congress can use it as a political club during election year, don't hold your breath waiting for the immigration issues to be solved.
1
Pelosi and Schumer in fact have tried to push Immigration reform. Both being in the minority party their hands are tied without GOP buy in - which of course does not exist.
2
This is interesting, but entirely expected from Trump & wife #3. Melania said that she left the USA every 3 months to renew her visa, while working in USA. A 3 month visa prohibits work, yet despite this self acknowledged criminal action, she gained citizenship and retains it while others who also are criminals by way of similar actions are being sought out for prosecution, is another example of Trump's dictatorial approach to governance.
14
I wonder if these new citizens will be taking advantage of Medicare.
11
It's all about how long and extensive the chain is. Nuclear family chains are one thing but when an immigrant starts bringing in aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews the chain gets too long and endless and one chain begets another.
4
Exactly. It’s been too much for too long.
3
I harbor no ill will against Melania's parents. I'm glad they became U.S. Citizens. But Mr. Trump has to explain how this is any different then other families whom he labeled "Chain Imigrants"
11
Trump will take good care of you. Just do as he says, don't do what he does.
2
All our ancestors used chain migration. When Uncle Tom wrote back that he could find work for his nieces and nephews and let them have the couch for a couple of months, that was chain migration, even if it was considered living the American dream.
7
Folks, this is not a big deal. Melania likely sponsored her parents, all quite legal, and that should be fine to bring along your parents. I believe this is current law.
1
You’re correct that this was likely a lawful process, the point is the hypocrisy of Trump’s statements against chain migration vs his own family being the beneficiaries of it.
Second, there’s the inference that chain migration isn’t okay when it’s for people of color, but it’s just fine for white people from Eastern Europe who haven’t worked here nor are highly educated to gain legal status.
7
@Newshourjunkie It's not about the fact that they immigrated and naturalized, it's about Trump's hypocrisy.
4
Chain migration has in fact been a very big deal to these new citizens’ son in law.
3
Further proof that Trump has won. Somehow he continues to operate outside the rules and norms
7
There is no surprise here. The rich and powerful always argue one thing for others and something better for themselves.
17
Deporting veterans who are not citizens but accepting former communist party members is okay with Trump because of the color of their skin.
47
The unspoken sub text to "chain migration" is that it applies only to people of color. White folks bringing over their relatives is not chain migration, it's "family reunification."
31
simply put, they are the correct complexion...
23
Nothing surprising about this, nor is there any inconsistency. Melania Trump's parents are white Europeans - the kind of immigrants Trump, Bannon, Steven Miller and the Breitbart cabal want. No hypocrisy here, just straight-up, no apologies white supremacism. Congratulations Republicans, you got the shiny white future you were all dreaming about.
30
@d. roseman
And they are/were members of the Communist Party, who did the background check?
3
I think "chain migration" might be code for "brown people migration".
20
In 45's world chain migration only applies to brown or black people. Euro whites are exempt.
15
Let’s see their tax returns. Normally, this would be a five years process. Wonder how they got in the express lane.
21
Clearly, the president only wants to stop non-white migration.
11
So...one (white) person's"family-based immigration program" is another (black/brown) person's "evil chain migration" scheme. Apples and oranges, right?
11
“Be Best”. “I Don’t Care. Do You?” Which phrase fits for this, yet another national embarrassment? The mind boggles.
10
Donald Trump hates anything that does not directly benefit him; in this case a happy wife!
4
Also two new Republican voters.
@Bashh1
who were members of the Communist Party.
Squeezed in his in-laws before he ends it for others.
Double standards, double dealing, double talk.
Making America the biggest liar on earth.
15
Guess the Knavses' DNA tests came back positive for "pure whiteness" giving them the green light to become US citizens.
Congratulations to Emperor Donald for setting new benchmarks for hypocrisy and moral depravity.
Any thoughts on when you might extend the same opportunity to the DACA recipients who actually HAVE contributed to our society and communities?
Oh, that's right...never, because most have brown skin.
Just so disgusting and inexcusable. Republicans should be ashamed, if only they were capable of penitence. Just sickening.
17
Trump doesn't follow rules. He thinks they are for losers. The Trump family is all winners. They don't need rules.
7
Putin not only owns Trump but all of Slovenia. You think it's happenstance that Melania's Slovenian, Putin loving, communist parents, are now citizens of the U.S.A. ?
13
Hypocrisy knows no bounds.
16
Everything Mrs. Trump's parents did was completely legal.
Get back to us when you have a real story.
2
@LarryGr Yes Larry, "chain migration" is currently legal. The point is that it is hypocritical for Trump to call for an end to "chain migration" while his own family benefits from it. Hypocritical, corrupt and self-dealing, but I guess it's okay when your guy does it, right? #integrity #principles #honesty
5
@LarryGr The story here is the double standards and the hypocrisy of the trump administration. More fake news from the enemy of the people I suppose.
6
@LarryGr
How did they pass a background check when they were members of the Communist Party. You don't think that is news worthy?
2
I guess “Chain Migration” isn’t a problem if you’re white.
But I shouldn’t be surprised. Bigotry and hypocrisy are the lifeblood of the GOP.
14
"Do as I say, not as I do".
8
I thought having been a member of the Communist Party disqualifies you from being granted US citizenship. Have the rules changed? Or is this just a Trump thing?
16
Hypocrisy, in the Trump Administration? Heck, that's their standard operating protocol.
8
Let' s clarity: it's chain migration by non-wealthy persons of color that Trump hates. Everyone else is welcomed.
8
Why do they need two police offices to escort them to the ceremony?
The Trump administration has taught everyone the definition of hubris.
9
The hypocrisy never ends! Let's start a movement to deport Trump. If only we could. Maybe ruining the new football season by picking on the NFL again is grounds. We are a nation of immigrants.
5
The hypocrisy is stunning. Pause to imagine that this was Barack Obama's father (were he still alive), being naturalized during the Obama presidency. Republicans are now in a full-on Fox propaganda fog. Can you just imagine how conservatives would have reacted to new citizen Obama? Why did Melania Trump's parents just receive preferential treatment in every way while their son-in-law tears our immigration system, the bedrock of our democracy, apart? Any comment Mr. Ryan, Mr. McConnell, Republicans everywhere?
19
This is akin to him asking for special visas for his South American workers at Mar-a-Lago. He can bring in foreign workers, but they're prevented from entering everywhere else. He's against chain immigration except when it involves his third wife's family. I've always thought his anti-immigration tirades were out of proportion to the "problem." I kept thinking that something traumatic must have happened to him which resulted in his intolerant and cruel policies but no. I read that when during the campaign he barked out anti-immigration rants, his crowds loved it, so he stayed with it and poured on more intolerant bile. Not because of any real ideology but simply because it made his crowds go crazy. He'll feed his base this garbage as long as they remain devoted to him. It's not about protecting America, it's about feeding his ego.
26
@Anne
I couldn't agree more. He has no moral center--just an insatiable need for attention and control.
4
“The Knavses have a relatively high profile for presidential in-laws. They frequently travel with the Trumps and split their time between New York, Palm Beach and Washington, where they stay in the White House.”
Is it any wonder why he’s against chain migration?
4
This type of hypocrisy is widespread. I can't count the number of people I know who complain about tax loopholes while doing everything they can to use (and abuse) them. One set of rules for me and another for a everyone else.
9
Donald Trump doesn't hate chain migration. He hates that people coming up through South and Central America are using it.
7
Trump has the right to choose who comes in and out of the country he is the president so he has more choices than the rest of us his family is exempt from his own laws
1
Guess they have picked up their Medicare cards by now...
14
Melania has a sister. Any bets on chain migration or Einstein visa?
7
I guess it's nice to have the President as your son-in-law....i'm sure it helped. I noticed the father-in-law was a member of the communist party, he must be proud of his son-in-law, bigly.
13
Unlike chain migrants from elsewhere in the world, I doubt that we will be paying for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, etc. for Mr. and Mrs. Knavs.
5
Trump proves himself once again a lying hypocrite.
9
Can he just admit Melania was illegal and her parents chain migrated and that she is not white, but that's all ok because she doesn't speak Spanish....show some truth? Not.
3
Well, it looks like trump is correct when it comes to "chain migration"... nefarious individuals can misuse it as a means to bring their brethren (and other family members) into the country. Our country really rolls out the red carpet for the new citizens. We provide a contingent of armed guards to escort them down the street. It would be terrible if they got lost. Nobody in the picture is carrying a baby either... looks like the forced separation policy is still in full effect. Glad to see there is no favoritism.
5
I am sure this was merit based.
We really need retired senior citizens from eastern europe.
17
When in-laws are outlawed, only outlaws will have in-laws.
4
The rationale of Melania's parents--"family reunification," not what it actually is, chain migration--does not apply to Hispanics whose children have been kidnapped at the border by Trump's racist acts against non-white migrants, legal and illegal. There must be an exception in his recent proposals that allows unrestricted immigration only by Slovenians.
5
The Knavs were sponsored for their Green Cards by a US Citizen and waited the requisite time before applying for citizenship. They complied with the requirements and became naturalized citizens.
All strictly according to existing US Immigration Law. No favoritism involved.
Whether that law is good policy or not is another question. If you object to the use of this legal path to citizenship by the Knavs, do you object to its use by others? The law applies equally to all.
Most of the spleen-venting comments here are aimed at Trump and those associated with him, without regard to policy. Unfounded accusations and unsubstantiated charges don't change existing law. They just make haters look more petty and hypocritical.
5
I think the process to have the in-laws become citizens started long before Trump became president
1
Welcome to TrumpWorld. One law for people of color and another for whites. I guess you can add "people of unwelcome faiths" to those of color.
This is the perfect example of outcomes we expect from our racist president.
3
Why would you think the laws for the little people would apply to his royal Trumpness?
2
I urge everyone to look up Norman Rockwell's painting "Do unto others". MAGA folks, it doesn't get any more 'classic America' than Mr. Rockwell, right? He specifically painted items that reminded us of our shared immigrant history as well as just celebrating whiteness. I remember when America's democratic experiment made us so proud to rise above the tribalism of 'old Europe', etc. Now the strongman in the white house openly divides us. And a portion of citizens applaud his un-American ways.
4
well, we all know that Melania is and has been an opportunist, so no surprise that her parents seized on this opportunity.
11
Hypocrisy. Trumpocracy.
Trump has mulled attempting to revoke citizenship for those who attained it by chain migration.
Trumpocracy. Hypocrisy.
2
He is illiterate, lies, doesn't pay taxes and, is a hypocrite.
Oh,, and his 10 billion dollar wall ? Is now projected to cost 70 billion,,,, and before it is done,,, if it is done,, it will cost 400 billion. Watch,, it will.
6
No one is more of a hypocrite than Trump. Believe me.
4
We still don't know if Melania came into the US legally or if a certain someone pulled strings for her.
4
Of course, there's not a WORD about this on the FOX "News" web site...what a surprise!
6
Well, Duh. The rules apply to everyone else not Trump or his family or his cronies. Nothing new here. Nothing to see folks, please move on, will be the message from Faux News.
4
No kidding. I now know why he hates "chain migration"!
6
Two of Donald's three wives were immigrants......... further proof that there are some jobs Americans just won't do.
27
Imagine the G.O.P uproar if Mr. Obama had sponsored any of his Kenyan relatives for citizenship and they were traveling with the president and living in the White House.
13
The Knavses citizenship is like that cheaply bought television that fell off the back of a truck.
Sad.
4
Oh, I get it now...Trump has been vehement opposed to "chain migration" because his in-laws were in the process of gaining citizenship through the process. If he had just shut down the program a little sooner he could have had his in-laws shipped out of the country ("like sorry the law's changed...see you at Christmas!"). Who wants their in-laws hanging around all time, especially since they're living with him on Pennsylvania Ave?
Now his in-laws are citizens and he's stuck with them, no chance to get rid of them now.
Who can blame the guy for trying?
Isn't it yet again blatantly obvious? "Chain Migration" is yet another racist dog-whistle.
It's just fine when the chain is for White, Christians of European descent.
But it's "evil" when people are Brown, Black, Muslim, or Asian.
Could the racism be any blunter? The Know-Nothings were mid-19th Century, yet Trump, whose ancestors weren't even here then, "Trump-ets" them.
Trump's father's mother and father were immigrants.
Trump's mother was an immigrant.
Trump's first and third wives are immigrants (and both have some "hiccups" in their "legal" migration).
Trump's in-laws are immigrants.
4 of Trump's 5 children have an immigrant for their mother.
Ivanka Trump lied when she said Ivana came here legally, despite Ivana ADMITTING in her book she had a sham marriage to an Austrian solely to get an Austrian passport. Then she worked without legal status as a ski instructor in the North East.
Melania worked illegally as a model without papers when SHE first came here (more sordid unproven allegations have been made).
But Ivana and Melania were White women from Europe, and pretty to boot, so THEY get a pass on all the rules they shaded or broke. There were no Steven Millers in the White House looking to stop even legal migration then, and especially of people of color or the "wrong" religion.
What has our once-moral fountainhead nation become?
12
I'm sure they meet Trump's hard criteria for immigration - they must speak totally fluent English, they must have college degrees, they are the best and brightest of their country, and they will be productive citizens, working hard at their jobs.
Or they're none of the above, and lily white.
5
Guess the Knavses' DNA tests came back positive for "pure whiteness" giving them the green light to become US citizens.
Congratulations to Emperor Donald for setting new benchmarks for hypocrisy and moral depravity.
Any thoughts on when you might extend the same opportunity to the DACA recipients who actually HAVE contributed to our society and communities?
Oh, that's right...never, because most have brown skin.
Just so disgusting and inexcusable. Republicans should be ashamed, if only they were capable of penitence. Just sickening.
This must be another one of those things that make the president smart.
2
This should not be a surprise. After all, our President has said he could commit murder on Madison Ave. and walk free. Laws are for others.
5
Finally, in the headline photograph, the answer to the eternal question of “how many magazines does one cop need?”.
Trump doesn't hate chain migration. Trump hates People of Color using chain migration.
4
Hypocrisy, thy name is Trump.
2
Pointing out logical inconsistencies in Donald Trump's speech and behavior is a loser's game, a booby prize. When will you realize that he neither likes nor "hates" anything except causing trouble, revenging himself on those who have crossed him, and taking our money? Literally everything he says is for calculated effect, and none of it has anything to do with his honest feelings (if he can be said to possess anything like that) about anything.
6
Trump hates Chain Migration as much as he loves Guns. Trump is playing his base like you play a fiddle and they love it. if Trump detest knelling during the anthem why doesn't he make sure Hot Dogs and Beer is not sold during that time? Trump does not care that his in laws used Chain Migration for he knows only Chain Migration of people of Color gets his base's blood boiling.Make America White Again is his Mantra.
4
Trump being a lying, two-faced hypocrite is just something we've come to expect (or expected long before Nov. 2016).
What troubles me a lot more is the 80%+ of the GOP who blindly look the other way. It continues to amaze me just what a bald, stunning and truly breathtaking display of double standards this is.
Even saying that sullies the idea of standards at all.
5
I gather “copulating” with Trump is the new criteria for allowing relative immigration into this nation. Cannot go too low with this man and his disgusting destruction of our democracy.
Hypocrisy, thy name is trump.
Why are you surprised? One of the characteristic of GOP voter & leadership is;
One set of rule for themselves vs others for everyone else.
I think they're working to create a two tiered America, just as before the slavery was abolished.
1
It's all about the color.
White chain = good
Others = bad
Melania's immigration process was sketchy, and if illegal, makes her parents' citizenship the fruit of a poisoned tree. A corrupt chain of events.
4
Hey, perhaps he was not happy about their being able to come over either.
A president who has no shame.
Guys, it’s very simple: it’s “family reunification” for white people and the well-connected, “chain migration” for everyone else.
4
unless something has changed it used to be that you could not get a visitor's visa if you had ever belonged to a communist organization. that was a question on the form.
5
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”-George Orwell
5
President Hypocrisy strikes again. The wonders of his shamelessness never cease to amaze.
2
Melania had to speed up her sponsorship and get her parents' citizenship quickly before she divorces Trump. Only question is whether the divorce will be before or after he leaves the White House.
7
We are all a product of chain migration except Native Americans and African Americans who descended from slavery. But why bother with facts and truth?
3
As long as Trump supporters are untroubled by his lies and hypocrisy he has no motivation to change his MO. One wonders if they'll ever return from the place Trump has taken them.
1
Those immigration rules are for other people! Not the Trumps. Silly us for thinking otherwise.
2
How on earth did Melania Trump get an "Einstein Visa" for being a model? Surely there are millions of truly brilliant would-be immigrants in the world who would make real contributions to society.
3
Well it certainly wasn't for being a distinguished scientist, an Olympic athlete, or an Oscar winner
1
Trump only values trump. Vilifying chain migration is a way to promote a racist position in an "acceptable" fashion. His base cheers loudly at the thought of fewer non-whites entering the US. The embrace of chain-migration for his most recent in-laws is simply the latest evidence of trump's shallow hypocrisy.
1
“We are a nation of laws that apply to everyone else.” DJT
2
I think the point is that Trump doesn't dislike chain migration so much as he dislikes the typical chain migrators--that is, folks from South and Central America. To be perfectly clear, racism is driving his immigration hypocrisy.
1
"They're not sending us their best."
4
This man and his family has no shame.
4
Which ‘special talent’ do these people bring? He was driver and she never worked. None one in family including Melanie has a degree in stem area or any college degree—although Melanie lied about having a degree on her web site. Complete hypocrisy and dishonest just like the rest of the embarrassing trump clan
5
RE: He said chain migration is a “dirtier” way of characterizing what he called “a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification.”
Not to begrudge the Knavs their right to citizenship that is done within the system but..... With their son-in-law as president, any way you look at this, the citizenship of these two individuals looks dirty.
5
Nepotism is the hallmark of despotism.
15
We should really not bother to point out hypocrisy anymore. The Trumpf base could not care less. That said, we really need to tighten those "Einstein" visa standards.
It does cross my mind that the Melania's parents might end up voting Democratic though!
3
Trump's criticism of a government policy, in this case the ability of adult US citizens to obtain residency for their relatives, while his wife has taken advantage of that very same policy for her benefit, of course is hypocritical. However, it is entirely consistent with Trump's position during the 2016 campaign in a similar situation. Recall that in October 2016 it was Trump who promised that he could fix what he claimed was a bad tax code because his "brilliant"use of loopholes in that code to benefit himself and his companies made him acutely aware of its flaws. Substitute "chain migration" for "bad tax code" and you have the same position. Of course in the case of "chain migration" Trump also could claim that he is being personally harmed by that policy inasmuch as he now has to constantly deal with his in-laws.
3
Hypocrisy, thy name is Trump and the entire Republican Party.
4
Greater shadow of shame has never been cast on the US, until Mr. Trump took an oath.
Daily, we realize an oath was swore against the US.
Mr Trump pledging allegiance to lies, hypocrisy, and deceit.
6
Congrats to the Knavs. Welcome to the country your son-in-law is destroying.
10
Well, now that the mother-in-law has her citizenship due to chain migration, maybe Corrupt Donnie's opposition to it will wane.
1
Trump does not lead by example. He is strictly do as I say not as I do. The utter hypocrisy. Of course since he knows them personally they are "good people" and not the criminal rapists that all those "other" people are. Two sets of rules are becoming clear for "the have's and the have nots".
3
Hypocritical and inaccurate comments simply to bash Trump. He does not deride the sponsorship of parents in his criticism of chain migration. He is opposed to extended families being sponsored by immigrants.
I am an Indian who immigrated to the US 30 years ago. I became a citizen 18 years ago under an employer sponsorship. I worked my way up from a student visa to a temporary work visa to an H-1 to a green card and finally to a US passport. I have not sponsored a single relative for citizenship. However, I am an exception. I have a friend from India who immigrated here at exactly the same time as I did. He was the beneficiary of chain migration. His uncle, 15 years before him, had come to the US and established a base here. He then sponsored all his siblings. They in turn sponsored their children and spouses, their children and spouses then sponsored their spouses and siblings, respectively, and so on. Today, this friend has a family of 2,041 individuals who would not have been in the US had it not been for his uncle who started the chain migration in the 70s.
The above is an example of a regular, educated, middle class family, with no particular reason to leave India other than the fact that it was “conveniently available” and also with no special value add to American society. Be real folks, the planet already has more people than it can handle. The population will go from 7 billion to 15 billion soon. Are we the taking on the responsibility for all?
3
@Vik
So over the past 45 to 50 years, an average of 4 members of an extended "regular, middle-class family" emigrated to this country from India each year.
Since the Indian-American community is the wealthiest and most highly-educated immigrant group in the US, this is unlikely to be a problem for our country.
2
Didn't Melania just kinda scoot in on her 'value' of being a model (sort of)?
And now her parents waltz through the process in record time, with her as the sponsor? Well, if that isn't some kind of circular ...logic.
Yeah, whatever. Rules schoolz -- DJT gets what DJT wants. If -- if --nothing else, he certainly is one lucky guy: life just rolls his way.
2
I don’t know if he’s spectacularly un self aware or really hates his in laws. I suspect that it’s the first
1
The only thing I don't like about this is that American doesn't need any more Trump. What we got is too much. No Trumps, no Republicans.
3
next step for the knavses, apply for social security and medicare
5
Please remember stuff like this in November.
REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER
6
I am an immigrant, and even though I came through "merit based" path, I think that the expressions "chain migration", "catch and release", and others used against immigrants are hurtful, on purpose. I wish the NYT would not use these expressions referring to Knavs. It's not the Knavs' fault that they are related to the compulsive and manipulative tweeter.
2
Of course they are. Number one, they are white. Number two, double standards are the norm in Trump-land, where values, laws, and rules are optional.
4
Do they have secret service protection and are American tax payers paying for it?
7
Something quite interesting reading article and particularly important. One of the questions everyone must answer when apply for USA Residency (green card) is whether you belong to communist party. Depending the answer, it should trigger a deeper review. I assume there was no "big issue"; but still interesting see someone who used to be communist party member is roaming through white house.
"There, Mr. Knavs was a traveling car salesman and belonged to the Communist Party. Mrs. Knavs had harvested onions on her family’s farm.."
6
These known associates of a felon are a threat to our country. Have they been the subject of extreme vetting to assure they are not terrorists like their son-in-law?
2
Let's start with the Einstein Visa. Speaking multiple languages does not an Einstein make. Semi-nude photos carrying a weapon - now that is brilliance apparently. Besides, a person with an Einstein mind would not have married Trump. I have no problem with Melania's parents becoming citizens under chain migration, but no special privileges should have been available to reduce the wait time from green card to citizenship. Using POTUS or FLOTUS is an abuse of power.
13
Once again the media gets it wrong. Chain migration is only bad for the wrong people. Europeans? They’re OK.
4
With 559 immigrant children still separated from their parents—what’s missing from this picture-- her parents outfitted in “Don’t Really Care- Do U?” Jackets. Seems fitting after all................
13
Every single Donald Trump policy can be summarized as----Do as I say, not as I do.
4
It's fine, they're white and European.
6
Beyond noting that William White is of course dead right about one door for the connected and the wealthy, one door for mere humans, the Right's been pulling this hypocritical stuff since Ayn Rand grabbed Social Security and Medicare bennies with both hands and a scoop shovel.
You know...like Paul Ryan used his granddads SSI benny to pay for college, like Rushbo ran to the ACLU when he got busted for his oxycontin habit, like Rand Paul was a fierce enemy of Russian communism until...
9
Our government is beginning to function with the efficiency of a totalitarian state. The idea is to separate families (excepting the Knavs's, mind you) before we SEPARATE families. Does anyone believe parents desperate for their children to live in freedom not fear will stop sending their children across a border if they think they can? When you think about it, this might be the clearest example of the message Goldilocks sends to us everyday: "#mefirst,you, not so much." How many immigrants living and working in this country a la Melania Trump would jump at the chance to bring a mom or dad or both "home."
79
AND, I notice 3 officers of the law (of New York City? One unidentified fellow - Secret Service? AND a lawyer - always the lawyer) joining in this hike. What did that cost? Who is picking up the tab? Will they take a personal check?
2
I am a 7th generation white person. trump is barely second generation: after all his mother was an immigrant. From my vantage point it is apparent that if you are white, what is described as "chain migration" is really "the bedrock" of our immigration policies and that term does not apply. If, on the other hand, your skin is any other color, then it IS chain migration. I believe that is called bigotry, and that defines trump and his base.
322
@Allen82 In CAlifornia, my college roommate and I became fast friends more than 45 years ago and have kept in close touch ever since...although they live in CA (West Coast USA) and my wife and I live in Massachusetts (Northeast, USA)
His parents were primarily of Mexican & German heritage. For more than 3 generations, his ancestors have lived in USA (or New Mexico & Arizona before statehood) prior to his birth. My great grandparents included immigrants and first generation USA citizens. In other words, although his last name might be considered by some to be Mexican-American, and my last name might be considered by some to be British-Scandinavian, some his ancestors have been "American" at least one generation longer than my ancestors. To my untutored eye, we both have similar skin color and family backgrounds (married parents; siblings; grew up in baby boomer, middle class environments), but have slightly different cultural traditions = Mexican-American vs. Northeast WASP. Both our fathers served Uncle Sam honorably Uncle in WWII and our mothers worked while our fathers were away. My friend and his wife supported Trumpster, I and my wife did not. But, we (our wives and us) have never permitted petty politics or superficial differences to affect our warm and trusting relationship.
Trumpster and his supporters who exhibit bigoted behavior could learn something from you and from us. Cheers and thank goodness for the English Common Law that both our nations use.
Just another example of the two faces of Trump. And one wonders if there is any justification for this process being used by some and not others? Well Mr. President?
2
This is because in the mind of a certain subgroup of the privileged, what they mean by "laws" directly refers to what they want to be applied to THE REST, in their mind none of that applies to THEM, because, you know, they think they're different, or special ... and they can afford lawyers who can help them get away with it.
132
@Aneirin
Trump has said laws do not apply to the President. His lawyers have said he is above the laws. It’s obvious, Trump is clearly mutinous.
Weren't Trump's grandparents chain migrants? I recall reading that his paternal grandfather came to the US after a brother emigrated here, then the grandfather settled here permanently after being deported from Germany for evading military service.
188
Like grandfather, like grandson. Avoiding military service seems to be a family trait.
2
@Good Things
Hi, his grandfather emigrated to the us and later came back to Germany to get married to his German wife. She did not like to stay in the US and therefore his grandfather applied for immigration back to Germany. At his time the palatinate region he came from was under Bavarian government (now we are an independent state) and they rejected his request, because they accused him of fleeing military draft. His grandfather wrote three times to the Bavarian government, but they would not allow him to come back to Germany. These three letters are still maintained at the palatinate state library in the town of Speyer close to his grandfathers home town. I work right across the library in Speyer and I often wonder how things would be different now if is grandpa could return to Germany. Oh no!! The Trump family almost in my backyard!
5
@Good Things Granddad was a draft dodger and fled to USA where he opened 2 bars and the western bar included a cat house (illegal at the time). Apples don't fall far from the tree.
4
"Even as his in-laws were going through the process, Mr. Trump was denouncing it. In November, he tweeted, “CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!” Can someone explain why "chain migration" and goods made outside of the USA are terrible things to Trump and his minions, yet perfectly fine if it is to Trump's advantage? Where is the outrage, the all caps tweets about this? Trump lovers can you explain?
6
This comment is a horse of a different color perspective about Mr. Trump and hypocrisy. In that, as I see it, Donald Trump's inconsistency between his "no chair migration" diatribe and his nonchalant "it's acceptable for my family" attitude isn't hypocrisy. In fact, it could be said, as incredible as it seems, that nothing he says and does fundamentally meets that criteria.
The definition of hypocrisy is when someone holds strong beliefs or standards that don't jive with their behavior.
The operative word here is strong beliefs. Is standards. Donald Trump has no strong beliefs or standards except what's beneficial for himself. And that's because Donald Trump shows all the symptoms of narcissism. Being self consumed is the nature of that disorder. That's how narcissists think. There mind is stuck there and doesn't/can't go outside those boundaries..
Thus, every single thing he does and says is for one purpose. It's to win again. It's about pandering to his base for votes. And that means consistently maligning immigration and immigrants. And that includes chain migration. The wall. An unsympathetically separating families at the border. Plus anything else he can come up with to achieve his goal.
So, because nothing he says and does comes from deeply held conviction or strongly held belief, he sees nothing wrong when what he says diverges from what he does. In fact he may not even notice. He's oblivious. And he sleeps well at night.
5
Legally there is nothing improper about these in-laws of Trump becoming citizens.
But the signs of a failing America is appalling. Since when do Republicans oppose Trump ignoring every law of God or man or behaving hypocritically or just misrepresenting the truth? Never. Not even the Republican members of Congress care what Trump does because of the devotion of Republican voters to Trump. As far as Republicans are concerned their demagogue in chief is the new sovereign of the United States. So if “chain immigration” in his family is practiced, that is just fine—anything that he says or does is fine to them.
Or is it that these people are European? White? Well that’s no problem, either. There should be more Europeans added to the U.S. so that the demographics are more like 1962. Isn’t that one of Trump’s more popular views? Yes, this country should be more white and other racial groups should be smaller proportions of the population. The old wrong headed idea of race will not be abandoned by Trump’s supporters.
What self respecting American ever imagined that this country could have fallen so far from what did make it great? It’s a disgrace but these new citizens are not the problem. The problem is whatever made Trump’s political base his political base.
1
So chain migration is bad because if we end it legal residents will continue to send the money out of the U.S. to their relatives in foreign countries and benefit foreign countries, and if we continue to allow it allow it their money will stay here and benefit the people in the U,S. Am I missing something?
There are rules for Donny and family, and rules for everyone else.
4
Considering that two thirds of his wives are foreign born, and four fifths of his children are of mixed American and foreign born heritage seems to be completely lost on his base (the Republicans). Trump gets it that his nationalistic hate speech aimed at foreigners keeps his base - his base.
196
@Sparky None of Trump's wives or children are black or brown. So it's family reunification. If the family is Hispanic, Muslim or black, why that's chain migration that has to be stamped out.
Trump is a white supremacist. So are many of his followers. They are against illegal immigration by black and brown people but apparently have no problem with whites who overstay their visas or work in the US without valid work permits. ICE raids businesses that employ illegal immigrants and arrests the immigrants but not the white employers who violated the law by hiring them.
White legal immigrants are fine, but now the Trump administration wants to take green cards and the possibility of attaining citizenship away from black and brown immigrants who used "welfare programs" like Obamacare that they were required by law to join.
See? It's easy o figure our once you know who Trump is.
9
"brown foreigners" @Sparky his hate speech is regarding BLACK AND BROWN foreigners. he is on the record as fully in support of whites, especially nordic.
3
Trump is quick to deplore, excoriate or dismiss policies that might make others' lives better, but is quick to embrace them if it applies to him or to members of the Trump Crime Family. No one is surprised, just slightly more nauseated than yesterday. This reprehensible behavior shows no signs of abating until he is impeached or forced to resign for myriad high crimes and misdemeanors. And felonies.
3
But...but...THIS is different.
Because...Trump. Rules do not apply to that clan, especially if there is a personal benefit to be had.
The in-laws are connected Europeans, the “good kind” of immigrants who won’t be a burden, the kind of people who Trump, Laura Ingraham, and their ilk think will make this country look like “us” again.
Manipulative opportunists. I’m running low on personal outrage over whatever rules they skirt or lines they cross. It’s clear their behavior will get a pass, no matter what. Nothing apparently will blow back on this man; the true meaning of cosmic injustice.
212
@MDB
It's OK. They are white Europeans, the kind of immigrants Trump & Co. want.
@MDB Maybe it's just the price of getting Melania to hold his hand in public.
3
We can discuss the pros and cons of this situation until the cows come home - won’t matter a whit.
Trump’s vitriol regarding immigration, legal or illegal, applies only to folks coming from south of the border, or people coming from Middle Eastern countries (of course, excluding those countries who facetiously kiss his ring). OR, I suppose, if they have tons of money. He has made it “perfectly clear” that poor folks need not apply.
3
The so called " Einstein visa" considers physical beauty as extraordinary ability. I wonder what the inventor of theory of relativity would feel about it. I feel sorry for those countless meritorious women around the world who excel in fields of science, math and other art forms but are denied entry into the US as being potential immigrants. By the way, according to some News reports Mrs. Trump entered the US the first time in 1996. May be 2001 is when she got the "Einstein Visa". what visa did Mrs. Trump have in 1996 and when she modeled in 1996-97? Were all conditions attached to that visa met before she obtained her green card? Since her husband has made immigration control one of his top priorities, it's important to make sure that the compliance started right from the top. Afterall, we are and ought to be a law abiding country.
3
I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again. We now have the best government, if you can afford it, that money can buy. My only question is, just who's money did Trump use for this very blatant maneuver? Certainly not his- not ever!
2
N0 really, you can bet that trump had "no knowledge" of this travesty. When he finds out whooee! I bet he will personally escort those probable rapists and drug dealers straight to Guantanamo, where they can be properly waterboarded to find out what devious plans they have to rape and murder innocent U.S. citizens!
1
Mr. President - when the court mandated you to reunite children with their parents within 30 days, he did not mean Melania. *sigh*
9
Always a hypocrit and a bully and a liar. Where’s the surprise? “I’m shocked, shocked that there’s hypocrisy from the White House,”
3
Please be factual NYT.
He's for chain migration if the parties skin color is pale.
Nothing wrong with being a rabid hater of people of color masquerading as protecting home jobs. But Mr. Trump should be more of a man and own who he is. Come out of the closet Donald: so many of you in America.
2
@AG Sure. Show us how you know that.
1
Clearly, chain migration is A-OK for rich white people.
If it wasn't for chain migration, my Dad would've died at Auschwitz and I wouldn't exist.
7
Once again Trump spits on the American people. He hates chain migration, but it's OK if its for his in-laws. He hate immigrants, but it's fine if they work at Mara Lago.
There is something wrong with this man; he has no shame. Shame is for the little people. His hypocrisy knows no bounds. He is a sociopath that is not only an embarrassment to America, but to all humanity.
12
He doesn't even support American workers by making his MAGA hats and buttons here in the US.
3
Everything about Trump has the aura of the dubious, the shady, the extra-legal. Melania gets a visa reserved for people of extraordinary talent. A model, of which there are thousands, whose talent is walking down a plank is someone of extraordinary talent? Her parents get a green card on a law that Trump condemns and campaigns against. I have nothing against any of these procedures when properly applied. It is Trump's duplicity, incoherence and distortion of reality and events that makes this affair the summit of hypocrisy.
An afterthought: is Melania, by using a law that Trump hates, subtly undermining her husband's policy?
7
Trump/GOP hypocrites only care about themselves. Vote out GOP to fix immigration. Ray Sipe
1
Focus on real issues instead. People can be against something and still use it if there is no alternative
Congrats on providing an excellent justification for sneaking across the border.
1
Yes indeed we have two immigration systems one for the white immigrants and one for people of color. It is only family reunification when the families are white, and it is chain migration when the families involved are people of color.
I mean it is pretty simple folks, Trump has made this very clear to all of us worldwide.
Grisham did a nice sidestep on the issue, but Melania came over under the Einstein visa because a)she is gorgeous, and b)she does a wonderful impression of a Disney automaton. In her case however, she was programmed by Trump.
2
Two, out of three, Trump's wives prove that immigrants will do the jobs that no Americans will do.
15
He really only hates chain migration when it involves poor brown people
2
The Liar was, is and will always be a hypocrit.
3
What happened to the Rule of Law and Madison's (also Hamilton's) writings in the Federalist - "the government will enact just laws and enforce them uniformly, and no man is above the law"?
3
Not only is Trump a liar and cheat he is also a hypocrite. Sad.
8
Yes, but they are white. And, he is a hypocrite and a liar.
Surprised?
7
All while DACA recipients -- many who've lived here most of their lives, speak English, are already working or in school (as is required) -- sit in perpetual limbo thanks to Trump & his hateful GOP.
We actually need immigrants who actually contribute to our society:
"The data illustrate that DACA recipients continue to make positive and significant contributions to the economy, including earning higher wages, which translates into higher tax revenue and economic growth that benefits all Americans.
In addition, DACA recipients are buying cars, purchasing their first homes, and even creating new businesses. The survey’s results also show that at least 72 percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ DACA recipients. Moreover, 97 percent of respondents are currently employed or enrolled in school."
(americanprogress.org)
Maybe Melania's mother can be Barron's nanny, her father Donald's chauffeur as their invaluable contribution?
13
Rules and laws don't apply to rich people like Trump or influential politicians. Only little people have to obey the rules and the laws or risk being arrested and jailed. He sets a fine example for our country on how to game the system. Lie, cheat, steal, incite bigotry, etc. There is a place for him and it's not running this country. It's called prison.
23
@hen3ry - and Leona Helmsey taught us well about the rules that only little people have to follow. There's something about these real estate magnates...
1
"Chain migration" has brought many, many people (including some of my forbears) to the United States over many decades - no, centuries. They and all the other immigrants (all of us) have made America great. Immigrants will continue to be part of making "America great again' if our President doesn't mess it all up.
11
Some say "maligned diversity visa", others say "abused diversity visa" or maybe "insufficiently vetted diversity visa".
When someone is admitted to this country they should have had a clean, thorough, background check and not be running down people in the street with their cars or setting bombs to harm us, or plan mass shootings once they've established themselves here.
It isn't asking too much to expect that.
4
"Some say", "others say".....Complete nonsense with no factual evidence. Margo, FOX tells you one side of a sensational crime victim story, and you are convinced that the only violent crime committed in America are by immigrants of color. American white men are far more likely to attack you than any immigrant. The vetting process for immigrants has been accepted for many years, yet now tRump tells you it's unacceptable, and you just.......believe him. Amazing how easily terrified tRump followers are, poor things!
2
But of course! One set of rules for me and my cronies - here and in Russia - which are very flexible and negligible and then another - punitive set -for everyone else because, after all, I am the greatest, the best MAGA president!
We await Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings and the enforcement of the United States rule of law.
15
What was that motto atop the gate to Animal Farm? All animals are equal, But!!!...some are more equal than others.
15
Now that Melania's parents are safely citizens, she can file for divorce.
28
fair's fair...the "chain" is rather the extended (cousins, uncles, their spouses, second cousins etc.) than the core family (parents, siblings)...fairer still, has anyone checked to see is ms trump's (green-carded) parents have jumped the line or violated any laws?
no trump voter here, but geez, why not the same look for the legions who have dragged really long chains with them?
2
The only problem we have is with illegal immigration. These are the laws in the books, so use them. Are these people going to be dependant on government benefits? No, so what is the problem liberals?
4
@Ed
The problem is her husband's stated position about it.
And yes, they very well may be dependent on government benefits of some kind. It'll likely cost the taxpayer just for a security detail.
15
@Ed don't move the goal posts. These are not the only people on the planet who could come here and not be a burden on society. Trump is selectively enforcing the law for his personal advantage.
@Ed This has nothing to do with illegal immigration. The problem here is that Trump has criticized the same immigration program (family reunification) as being an unqualified threat to the nation, while HIS family members take advantage of that same program, without a peep from him.
Using a program after campaigning on a pledge to shut it down doesn't seem contradictory to you?
10
What colossal frauds Trump and the GOP are. But it all comes down to the voters. If they want a totally corrupt federal government, they will keep voting for Republicans. Even the First Lady is corrupt. With Trump's help, she weaseled her way into America effortlessly with a Genius visa. Her genius? Modeling. And now her parents are U.S. citizens, after having been brought here via "chain migration," something Trump has characterized as evil. The Trump swamp is so deep it goes all the way to China.
28
Bet they have GREAT health insurance, too!
13
Another display of Trump family hypocrisy. Immigrate haters, except the "right ones"... connected and beyond working age. What do they bring to the table, other than forks to eat off the rest our plates?
Whereas those immigrants from "undesirable" countries work! They are the ones doing the terrible low wage jobs, the pickers in our fields, on the kill floors of meat processing plants, the busy boys clearing our tables, doing those jobs that are beneath "real" Americans.
16
This completes the family: wife came in on the so-called 'genius grant' and parents were permitted to use a chain migration pass denied to others. I can't imagine what tops this arrogant 'let them eat cake' behavior. But will the revolution follow?
28
Melania may not have worked as hard as millions of others who came here and established themselves enough to send for there families. There is no doubt that she has paid an unimaginable price to do it.
Congratulations to Melania and her family.
3
I’d agree wholeheartedly with that: look who she had to marry!
4
@John Ashcroft She did not have to marry him. She is not a victim in that relationship. She coldly calculated her best option and chose Trump. Even before he ran for office, Melania was supporting Trump's conspiracy theories. She made her choices and is much richer for them.
1
@Shari Wealth isn't just measured in money, and power. She may well have gotten what she wanted. So did Anne Boylen. If she has any self respect, she is paying a very heavy price.
If you don't like the hypocrisy, the corruption, the cruelty that you're seeing these days: VOTE IN NOVEMBER.
29
Melania is an Anchor Baby? Chain migration? Nah, they're the correct skin tone for Donald so you can't use those terms for them. (Not Norwegian, but you can't have everything.). Actually, I don't begrudge citizenship to any of them, immigration is what built our country. It's this Administration's hypocrisy that gets me, which I ought to be used to by now: "America first! Buy American!" But Trump apparel made in China. Anyhow, congrats to the Knavses.
6
If she arrived here as an adult there is no way she could be considered an "anchor baby".
1
Here's hoping that they vote the straight dem ticket on November 6.
9
Njlatelifemom,
It was reported that on election day in 2016 Trump actually glanced into Melania's voting booth to make sure she was voting for him.
First, congratulations to the Knavs.
Now exactly which highly needed skills are they bringing to our country?
17
@37Rubydog
They're good at producing trophies.
1
Let's cut to the chase. This is not really about any legal processes her parents did or didn't go through, or their rights, or Social Security or Medicare.
It's about the incoherent, hysterical and hypocritical ramblings of a would-be dictator, believing himself to own America (if not the planet) and that his vast wealth will protect him from all he's got coming to him. God speed, Mr Mueller.
29
If Melania worked as a model while using her tourist visa (B1/B2) when she first came to the U.S., before Pres. Trump met her and got her an O1 visa, Melania's O1 visa was obtained through fraud and her citizenship, and that of her parents, could conceivably be invalidated under new HHS guidelines. Tl;Dr: ICE could have her on the next charter back to Slovenia without judicial review if not for the recent injunction.
16
Is this hypocritical? Yes. Does it change the legitimacy of his proposal to move to a merit based system of immigration, instead of one largely based on family reunification? No. I’d rather have two more medical doctors or physicists from another country immigrate here than Trump’s in-laws or some random person’s brother, who may or may not have any skill or value to add to the economy.
5
@Jon Our dentist's office has two dental assistance who were dentists in their home country. They cannot practice her without going to an American dental school. A few years ago there was an article in a Chicago newspaper about a high end nail salon filled with women who were doctors back in their home country. They could not practice here without going back to medical school and taking the US boards. Just because Trump spews some world salad about people adding value to the economy doesn't mean it will work the way he spews. As with everything, the devil is in the details.
and here in the UK some of us are wondering how Megan Markle got a passport so quick - one rule for the rich etc..
4
@Mark Begg
What's to wonder? -- She married into your royal family.
1
I am really amazed that we have different sets of rules in this country - one for the VIP's and the other for ordinary people. Such practices are generally found only in authoritarian regimes. Or, is the monarchy back? Is it King Emperor Trump?
9
So another words Trump is telling us, Do as I say and not as I do. ... Didn’t Trump’s in-laws need to take a number and wait for their turn like everybody else seeking to become an American citizen. At least it would have made the process look ethical (and for the “President” to be an example), and not shady. It’s not right to treat people like they’re worthless, and of no value. It’s not right to take away people’s hope, and a future.
2
He said chain migration is a “dirtier” way of characterizing what he called “a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification.”
So, everyone else is dirty caricature of [this]" bedrock of our immigration process."
There is a special place for this soulless creature- and it ain't Northbound.
8
How did a member of the communist party become a citizen? I have been through the green card/ citizenship process, and one of the questions always is : “were you ever a member of the communist party?” (I paraphrase here). My immigration lawyer told me a “yes” to that question (or any no of other similar questions) would result in a rejection.
21
@vr
Was totally wondering the same thing. McCarthy is rolling over in his grave.
1
I like how Trump is quoted as saying the families coming over as part of ‘chain migration’ can be “truly evil”. Yep. Sometimes the ones who are already here, too, bub.
17
He employs immigrant labor at his properties. He manufactures his products overseas where child labor is not unusual. He owns German cars, Italian suits and shoes. His wife comes into the US on an 'Einstein Visa' while rocket scientists and neurosurgeons are denied visas. And now, his in-laws use Chain migration?
Disgusting.
33
@AP917
Hopefully, the Democrats can use this in November.
7
Really, he hates chain migration? I'm sure he does, however if you are white and from Europe and especially if you have "star power" then you're fine.
If you're from Australia or New Zealand you may be too well read and liberal, unless your name is Murdoch.
7
Does that mean they lost their Slovenian/EU citizenship?
2
@Stefan K.
Moreover, does that mean they're no longer Communists?
How nice! The White House, Palm Beach and New York! So how do we justify that to the Central Americans who have been held and separated from their children? It's a disgrace! But in reality just one more disgrace in this corrupt administration.
24
Another troubling example of how all the laws and rules apply to everyone except someone whose last name is Trump. That is not the America I want to live in.
Vote in November America and from there, rise to the challenge of our stated values of “equal liberty and justice for all”.
Now is the time.
18
Hypocrisy has always reigned supreme within the Trump political sphere. How else could he be king and everyone else be lesser. But his two tongues are most evident in immigration. He railed against the withering of American manufacturing and against foreign-made products. But where do Trump ties and Trump labeled goods come from? Enemy shores, just like Ivanka clothes. He decries foreign workers, yet built Trump Tower on the backs of illegal Polish immigrants, even stiffing their pay, a la Trump America style.
Trump wants to wall off the borders and disintegrate immigrant families, to make this nation so mean and ugly, no one will want to move here. Let's just poke a hole in that wall large enough to squeeze through the beautiful ones, like his first wife, third wife and her people.
13
Her father was literally a traveling Yugo salesman -- I wonder if he helped open dealerships in the US in the 80s? I imagine many of you are too young to know about Yugos. They were a ultra-economy Yugoslavian car brand.
6
@Ananda - Yugos rank high among the worst automobiles ever built: ugly, unreliable, shoddy and inefficient. They were rolling jokes. You hardly see any today because, justifiably, so few survived normal usage. What you saved in fuel costs you spent on your mechanic!
Hypocrisy is one the strongest attributes of this administration and of the Trump family in particular. Aren't we still waiting for that presser where Melania--now our invisible First Lady--to produce her immigration documents and show that she entered America legally and became a citizen through an honest process? I think I know why we haven't had that presser--because her documents most likely show she gamed the system, probably with Trump money. And now, through chain migration, her parents are now American citizens while just yesterday Trump's ICE sent a woman and her daughter back in harm's way after they legally asked for asylum. As I said--hypocrisy is the main characteristic of this administration, but now throw in cruelty and dishonesty as well.
27
They used the process for obtaining green card and then citizenship that is currently under law. Nothing wrong with that.
The proposal for new 'chain migration' rules would have an exception for elderly parents.
3
@WiseGuy Nope! They obtained last year their green card! Waiting period legally is 5 years!
6
@Samir You claim to know details about their application. If you know for sure that they received some special favor, why don't you submit evidence and file complaint to DHS ?
So OK they get in under the wire. The door will slam shut behind them if Trump gets his way. But here's another question that needs to be answered. Who is paying for all the lavish life style these people are enjoying. All the travel and stay in the resorts? And just look at that security protection in the photo afforded all new citizens. I certainly hope it is not the US taxpayer. For if they are taking advantage of the taxpayer, they should be stripped of their citizenship like Trump is planning to do to others. They will enjoy the benefits while never having contributed to the coffers. Well dressed and smiling in Manhattan. A far cry from where they came from. Compliments of us. There's probably a parent of a DACA child crying across the street as they are pulled away from their daughter or son. The Knavs cannot be bothered by such things. A plane awaits on the tarmac to take them back to DC. I believe the lunch bell is about to ring. I can just picture meals....the Knavs and Melania sitting at the table speaking Slovak. While Trump seethes.
7
@Walking Man Their native language is Slovenian, not Slovak. Apples and oranges.
Yes they came in via chain migration. But Trump wants chain migration limited to “skilled” workers, not people who pick crops, like onions, and especially not people who belong(ed) to the Communist party.
That’s where the rub is. Not chain migration itself, as that has always been a major part of our country’s growth, but the hypocrisy. Trump is immune to being shamed for hypocrisy, or anything else for that matter. Take for example how he rails against immigrants, how they are taking our jobs, and then increases the amount of visas for mostly Haitians to work on his property.
But what bothers me more is how his followers are blind to, or ignore this hypocrisy. Voter after voter cites jobs and how immigrants are taking them as a reason to hate immigrants and stop them from migrating to the US. It doesn’t take a college education to recognize when someone is saying one thing and doing another. How do you stand by a leader who does this to you?
To Trump: put your money where your mouth is and hire only Americans. To his followers: wake up, or at least be honest that your disdain for foreigners has nothing to do with jobs.
17
@SXM - call it what it is, not chain migration, but extended family immigration. And the family values people want to stop it? The hypocrisy screams at a deafening level.....
1
Take a girl who leaves school at thirteen, whose first language is not English, who arrives in this country while still a minor, and joins her sister who is already here. She finds work as a domestic.
She is Donald Trump's mother.
21
@Jajalondon But she found work - and was not a burden on US taxpayers.
The abject hypocrisy of Donald Trump cannot be overstated. It is no longer shocking. He acts like an imperious emperor, for the benefit of himself, his family and his favored vassals. He acts as if he, himself, is above the law. His role models are the likes of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, who are the antithesis of what America, but not Donald Trump, has long stood for.
Trump proclaimed that he could shoot someone in broad daylight in Times Square and get away with it, just as Putin and Kim have executed their opponents, even while they are in other countries. He is demonizing the free press, while the emboldened and deranged among us are acting on his impulses, resulting in the death of innocents.
This isn't a television drama, it isn't fake news, but it is, quite literally, a reality show. I repeat: it is real, and if you are manipulated into believing that it's OK, then you are being naive at your own peril. The things you hold dear, that you value and treasure, and that many of your children, parents and grandparents fought and died for are at risk. Are you afraid yet?
Your loved ones are not the Knavses, who can now vote here in what is left of America. So can you, and if you don't, you are part of the problem.
21
@Quoth The Raven
Actually, Trump said he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and not lose any voters -- and everyone here in New York has been nervous ever since...
1
This process appears to have happened at lightening speed, as well. My understanding is that even with “chain migration”, the process of getting just a green card for a relative to enter and live in the US takes twelve to twenty years. Even with her Einstein visa, Melania could not have become a US citizen until 2006, at the earliest. And she could not have filed the paperwork to sponsor her parents until she was a citizen. So how is it, exactly, that these people seem to have gotten a green card within a few years of Melania becoming a citizen. If they fulfilled the five year residency requirement to apply for citizenship, the latest they could have received their green card would have been 2012 — so their green cards were issued within six years of Melania becoming a citizen. Seems highly unlikely their applications were processed within the normal process, even under the “chain migration” process that the great orange one abhors. So why isn’t the media pressing to find out the exact timeline of these special elderly immigrants’ journey to citizenship? That’s a story. Like the story of melania’s journey, or of trump’s own mother’s.
14
@Oscar, this is as wrong as it gets, but let's remember that it's a sideshow, not the main event. This is a distraction from trying to save the country from trumpism and Trump himself.
Networking and connections are paramount in this country of equality. Melania achieved citizenship in 2001 through the so-called Einstein or genius visa, an EB-1 program reserved for people of demonstrated extraordinary talents such as professors, researchers, business managers. Melania Knauss was a runway model who did swimsuit covers. But most importantly she was at the time dating Donald Trump. So money talks.
Now her parents are in on chain migration through Melania Trump's sponsorship, at the very moment that her husband is in the forefront of blocking this act for untold numbers. Either she's unaware of events around her....like the time she gave a speech without any apparent recognition that it was plagiarized....OR this is a deliberate sock-it-to-you moment against her mate. If so, one can only relish the irony that the misogynist's women are out of his control.
11
@Em .....Mrs Trump #3 was not a runway model, her agency commented she was considered too stiff and did not move well....she did print work for "glamor" shots for men's magazines.....she was never a top fashion model.
3
Rules for them, different rules for everybody else.
7
Trump's masterful salesmanship relies on bonding with his potential customer by identifying a villain for whom both parties share a special form of hate. It's nothing personal -- just a sales technique for getting someone else's coin in Trump's pocket.
Trump xenophobes probably understand completely that the Knavses are the good kind of immigrants whom the US should seek. There is no logic, consistency, or principle to be found in his travelling medicine show.
5
I would not be surprised if the Knavses were on the Trump or even the White House payroll, earning SSI and Medicare credits for babysitting Barron. Melania has always said she has never used nannies, yet we see her traveling while Barron must be back in the White House attending school (or summering wherever he spends summer vacation). They could have been paying into the systems since Bannon’s birth, which puts them well on the way to qualifying for benefits when Barron no longer needs them. Michelle Obama’s mother also served this role during 8 years in the White House - I commend grandparents able and willing to do so - but we know Trump would have set his inlaws up in a way that financially benefited him and ensured they eventually were supported by the earned benefits Congress would like to cut.
3
@PSS The government did not pay a salary to Mrs. Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, who lived in the White House for 8 years, nor does the government pay a salary to Mrs. Knavs, Melania Trump's mother.
If the Obamas or the Trumps paid wages to the two grandmothers to take care of the children while either family was traveling, then no doubt both families would have paid Social Security on the wages.
Now I don't believe either family paid wages to either grandmother! I don't believe anyone with a clearly functioning brain would believe this either.
However, people with Trump Derangement Syndrome or Obama Derangement Syndrome might believe it.
Trump gets to define who is evil, who is going to be caged and who gets to be a US citizen. Double standards are part of the president's life.
Same for crooks. Manafort is a "good man" other people laundering money are crooks. If the judicial system determines that persons in Trump's circle are guilty, no worries, there will be presidential pardons. Others will remain imprisoned: the poor, the vulnerable, mostly black and Latinos.
6
Einstein visa is for people with extra ordinary abilities like, scientists, physicians, composers, well, you get the idea. Can someone tell me what extra ordinary ability does Melania Trump has? Her parents just became citizens of this country, which according to Trump, is considered chain migration, which he also called EVIL, and must be stopped. Obviously, he has 2 different sets of rules, when it comes to immigration, one for his wife’s family and one for everyone else.
8
@BB
I am sure you grossly underestimate the president.
Only TWO different sets of rules?
I am sure he would tell you himself that he has more sets of rules than anyone on the planet ... the universe ... the universes. More than anyone has had in the history of .... well you get my meaning.
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others".
G. Orwell's "Animal Farm"
11
"Chain migration", as opposed to innocent children being in cages. What a sad contrast.
9
Come on, we all know Trump hates "chain migration" only for "Those People". For his parents-in-law, that is not "chain migration" but "family-based immigration program"!
6
communist chain migration is fine with Trump. Maybe some Oligarch is next as Trump's mortgage holder. For a favor or two of course like lifting the sanctions.
5
Chain migration is a bad policy for those who are from countries that are not white and are disadvantaged.
As stated in the piece, we have two immigration policies.
So, with Trump's continued screeching about immigration and immigrants, perhaps he need only to look at the makeup of his most recent spouse, and family. Oh, but they are white.
1
Everyone angry at the president because of his hypocritical stance here should just calm down for a minute. Think of this from his perspective. How many son-in-laws do we know who would be thrilled to have the in-laws around all the time now?
At a time when he needs to expand his shrinking political base, son-in-laws constitute a demographic base previously untouched. Hey....when you lose the popular vote by over three million, you need to find new prospects wherever you can. Next he may target serial adulterers.
2
People, People... From psychodynamic viewpoint, it's clear: Trump hates his in-laws. How many jokes have you heard about (a little tense) relationships with the birth family of your spouse, ESPECIALLY between a man and his mother-in-law. ( E.g., "A woman travels from the middle-of-nowhere to Moscow, to visit her adult daughter and grandchildren. As she enters the daughter's house, she gives a deep sigh and gingerly lowers herself on to the chair by the door. Her son-in-law looks up from his newspaper and asks, "Mother, how long are you staying with us?" The woman responds, "Well, son, as long as you guys want me here,". the man fakes surprise, "Really? No, really? You won't even stay for some tea??")
Back to the point. I can't imagine 45 has a great relationship with Melanie's parents. If I were Mel, my parents would have said a few choicy words to say to the man who treats their daughter like he treats Melania. I can guarantee my husband and my parents would very quickly develop a passionate relationship.
so, no, TRUMP does not benefit from the chain migration. in fact, he may legitimately hate the policy.
Why in is anyone shocked or surprised by this administrations hypocrisy?
9
I wonder what Einstein would have thought about models being included in the category "individuals of extraordinary ability".
7
@Carolyn Nafziger I expect the ability to earn several hundred thousand dollars a year and pay income taxes enters into the equation.
Who knew immigration could be so complicated?
It really isn’t. If you’re considered white, as I assume the Knavses are considered to be white (I wouldn’t presume) and have moneyed connections, it is quite simple.
4
Trump's allies frequently say, "Let Trump be Trump." Hypocrisy is one of his main traits. When he was spouting those words "chain migration" I knew that his in-laws had been admitted to our nation because of their daughter's citizenship. I'm surprised it took this long for an article to appear confirming that. One fact that one can take to the bank- A day will not go by when Trump doesn't say something totally untruthful and/or ridiculous!
7
Trump's father-in-law is a former member of the Communist Party. Why doesn't Trump call him a "terrorist"? Surely, avowed communists are more suspect than small children, some just babes in arms?
Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.
20
Now you know why Trump told his supporters "don't believe what you see and hear." He wants to hide all his scams, lies, and hypocrisy from them.
10
I wonder who they will vote for.
6
If we truly are a “nation of immigrants”, why was that phrase scrubbed from government websites?
6
So many cop surrounding the family in these pictures. I offer congratulations, however I wonder - how much security for her family costs US taxpayers.
9
What influence does presidential aide Stephen Miller have in all of Trump’s hateful anti-immigrants policies ? Miller’s grandparents escaped anti-Jewish pogroms and immigrated to the U.S. seeking a safe and better life , becoming successful U.S. citizens. Why the hatred of immigrants ? The mean spiritedness of Trump, Miller and the administration is a disgrace and a stain on our AMERICAN ideals. Shame, shame, shame !!!!
12
Trump is conspicuously silent about his wife’s Slovenian parents taking advantage of the “chain migration” system he hates and assails so much to become US citizens. It’s unclear whether he endorsed their bid for citizenship. Equally unclear whether he had supported them financially after their arrival in the US over five years ago. Perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary after their daughter won a lawsuit last year.
In April 2017 a tabloid in Britain, The Daily Mail agreed to pay damages and costs – apparently some $3million – to Melania Trump over an article alleging her working as an escort, apart from her modelling career. The story was published during the 2016 election campaign. She accepted the damages and an apology from the newspaper. Perhaps the money was given to her parents.
3
@J. von Hettlingen
Initially Melania Trump sought damages of $150 million in damages but apparently accepted $3m.
1
@J. von Hettlingen Good for Melania Trump! The tabloid got hit in the pocketbook.
Family reunification—also called chain migration—currently accounts for 68 percent of immigration visas while diversity lottery winners, refugees and asylum seeker accounts for about 20 percent. Only about 12 percent of immigration visas go to individuals based on merit. Trump thinks Congress should end or reduce family reunification to a small percent of immigration visas while doing away with the diversity lottery altogether, but Congress is deadlocked on immigration reform. Meanwhile, applicants must work within the present systems, which is what Melania and her immigrant parents have done. Her parents applied for their visas before Trump became president.
1
Trump doesn't hate chain migration, but he knows his supporters have been trained to respond to this particular dog whistle. Count on Sarah Huck-Sanders to come up with some highly imaginative but unfollowable logic that will be tweaked on a daily basis until this problem is replaced by a new one.
1
A private ceremony?? Isn’t the point to become one of the American people? Taking the oath together is a powerful symbol of the equality we share under the law. Melania’s parents seem to think they are set apart from others, like nobility. That is not the American way.
40
Is it really any wonder why Melanie’s parents chose to have a private ceremony when gaining their American citizenship like thousands of people do everyday? A friend just obtained her citizenship in a private ceremony with family last week. The hatred, the vitriol, from the left would have certainly put their lives in danger with the left screaming UNFAIR! Her parents broke no laws. Under the current system they sought and obtained citizenship legally Good for them.
1
Why, if ,as the First Lady's Communications Director, says they are not part of the Administration, do they nondescript non-public figures need three uniformed, armed DHS officers to escort them to a Federal Building where there would be ample securrty?
59
@OC
Hmmm, let me think. Could it be that the First Lady’s Communications Director is a hypocrite, representing the administration’s chief philosophy of hypocrisy and misdirection, and is dodging the question?
I am sure Rudolph Giuliani knows the answer. He knows everything.
It’s a possibility.
Why a private ceremony and police protection?
Disgraceful hypocrisy juxtaposed with what has been happening at the border, with children incarcerated in “shelters”,with possible abuse, as well as separation from parents, many of whom have been deported.
At least Melania’s parents did not wear green raincoats that said “I really don’t care, do U?”
61
When Trump says he hates illegal immigrants and chain migration , he really means non caucasians, anyone caucasian is not a problem for him. I hate to pay Melania's parents entitlements from my tax money if they did not contribute towards medicare and social security. By the way did Trump himself ever contributed to either......I thought he never made enough money to pay these taxes.
28
Trump hates chain migration but his in laws just used it .
Trump hates companies going overseas but his products are made there.
Trump wants us to “hire American” but he uses foreign workers at his businesses.
Trump wants to drain the swamp but has only made it deeper and murkier with his corrupt administration.
#MAGA = Mueller Ain’t Going Away.
71
So do the Knavs get full Social Security and Medicare? Have they ever actually held jobs in this country or just lived off of their daughter and son-in-law? How often do they travel on AF1 from NY to Palm Beach and the White House?
34
Good! Now please vote your son-in-law out office.
38
Is anyone surprised? For Trump and the Republican Party, "chain migration" is only a problem when dark-skinned people are involved.
36
Hypocrites populate the West Wing. Are we surprised? And of course, Trump applies for and gets special visas for his servants and housekeepers in Mar a Lago. And they are paid minimum wage, less than Americans hotel-workers would be paid.
16
Is this what “white privilege” is?
Must be.
Son of immigrant mother.
Married twice to immigrant wives.
His own kids with immigrant mothers
All while he and his current immigrant wife both are birthers questioning the citizenship for first black president.
68
It's really quite simple. Mr and Mrs Knavs are white people. The immigrants Trump doesn't want are dark skinned.
27
Trump's behaving like a typical Republican. They're all hypocrites. As soon as something they opposed affects their family or loved ones, they change their minds on it, at least for that one instance.
25
This highlights yet more disgusting, hypocritical trump behavior. Trump denigrates the very chain immigration policy that allowed his in-laws in.
And his supporters don't blink !!! What is wrong with 40% of this country?
17
Let’s not forget the Einstein visa that started this chain.
Sham.
23
So if they used any form of assistance, according to Miller, they are sent packing.
16
I think it’s sad that the Trump’s did not attend the ceremony. I remember my own citizenship ceremony in the LA conversation center - the family and friends waving flags and posing for photos - the Buddist monk, the Hispanic families, the elegant Ethiopian woman who shared her story. I remember the warm words of welcome by the presiding judge. Who is Stephen Miller and why does he have the power to deny legal immigrants the path to citizenship?
19
One question no-one seems to have asked is... why? Slovenian medical treatment is free and first-class and presumably they would have to pay for it in the US. (I'm not American, but from what I gather free care in the US is minimal). I visit Slovenia almost on a daily basis from next-door Italy and I can assure you it has absolutely nothing of a former communist country about it but offers an extremely high standard of living. How do they benefit by being US citizens (apart from having to pay US taxes; are they lower than in Slovenia? Doubt it). Perhaps something grubby back home in Slovenia...? At all events, they're being given citizenship in this way stinks. Please, please vote Trump out asap for all our sakes!!
42
@LHC, as far as taxes, their son-in-law has taught them not to pay a single dime into the economy. They will now benefit handsomely from it now they are retirement age.
2
@JulieB
Ah, perhaps that's it. Slovenia is a 'socialist' country (like Europe generally) in the sense that those who have, pay tax, and those who haven't, receive assistance. Perhaps the notion of 'I'll keep what I've got and stuff you' was appealing... But is onion-picking so lucrative?!
Great story, especially the part that Melania's father belonged to the Communist Party (and now loves capitalism). And do Trump's in-laws admire Putin? Putin used to be a Communist too--and a member of the KGB. Will the in-laws accompany the President and Melania to their visit of Russia? It's a mad mad world. Who would say a Communist car salesman and his humble wife in a corner of the Soviet empire would one day visit the head/king of Russia as a VIP of the former enemy, and their princess daughter marry the King of the capitalist world.
23
The level of hypocrisy requires no comment from anyone except Donald and Melania Trump. And they should explain it to someone in the DACA program. Explain to him or her, in person, why the parents of a rich powerful woman, two people who have contributed nothing to America, should receive a path to citizenship through a program Trump has disparaged, while those who have been contributing citizens in all but name are left in limbo. Actually, never mind. We all know why. All you have to do is look at pictures to see that Melania's parents are the right color for Trump's America.
73
Add me to the list of those commenting here who feel that, in view of Trump's stance on immigration, whether and how Melania and her parents obtained legal immigration status merits some intensive scrutiny. If Trump could illegitimately demand that Obama prove he was born in America, certainly it's legitimate to ask about this very legitimate issue.
52
@Thunder Road
I think it is the ultimate in chutzpah that these people applied for citizenship.
I wonder if the information they supplied in this process could stand close scrutiny.
2
My husband and I are US-born citizens. Our legally adopted kids from an African country were granted green cards but must wait over 1 1/2 years to receive their Certificate of Citizenship,thanks to the Trump Adminstration slow-down on processing forms. They cannot take money out of their personal bank accounts, cannot apply for drivers’ licenses nor apply for college because their green cards expired while we wait. And Trump’s Communist father in law and wife jump ahead in line and get their proof of Citizenship. How do I explain THAT?
107
Trump hates companies that ship jobs overseas while his company makes its products in China.
Trump hates immigrant labor while his businesses use immigrant labor.
Trump hates chain migration while Melania's parents use chain migration to become citizens.
Nothing new here.
57
I am disgusted at some of the comments recommended here. It does not matter what they did for a living in their country, that they will receive social security benefits, nor how you feel about Melania and her relationship with this failure of a president. Personal attacks on them and their daughter are not helpful in this debate. (Thank goodness a support system like social security benefits is in place for some refugees fleeing nightmare situations for a better life in our beautiful country. Also, not every immigrant is going to be “it is I who cut down the cherry tree, father” - kind of perfect, but they still deserve to live among us.)
What matters is the hypocrisy of this failed president. What matters is his racism. Everything he is, everything he stands for goes against our values as a nation. It is important now that we show the world we reject him and his corruption. We demand better leaders and we will VOTE for them.
I implore the readers of the NYT to stop personal attacks, which, while cathartic, are not useful in a debate as important as the ones we are facing. Indeed, they can be used against us going forward.
17
I am sorry that Mr. and Mrs. Knavs are caught in this controversy. They have done nothing wrong except for having a lying, racist son-in-law. However, one thought still comes up to mind: does having DHS protection count undeserving public benefit that discourage a person from citizenship?
11
There seems to be a misunderstanding in this article
Trump is against chain migration for people of color. For whites it’s ok
Hope that cleared it up for everyone.
67
This is rich. You can't make this stuff up. Send them back and see how Trump likes it.
12
Can anyone explain why they get government security? If they are concerned for their safety let them pay for it
29
Not surprising. I wonder what hard line Cuban American Republican Trump supporters who also rail against immigrants (they see themselves as refugees) have to say about this double home run from their idolized double-dealing president. Go figure.
13
It makes me sick to the stomach to know that Melania was able to sneak through the US immigration system under the EB-1 visa category for people of extraordinary abilities.
What is even more disconcerting is the fact that her dad, a former communist, was able to get a green card, and become a US citizen. So we now have a former factory worker and a communist car salesman who are eligible to participate in tax payer subsidized Medicare for the rest of their lives, are accorded free tax payer subsidized travel, boarding and lodging when traveling with the first lady, and who are accorded secret service protection. How much is that costing the tax payers, and why is the right not incensed about it?
This is a classic case of abuse of chain migration by well connected former communists, and wretched exploitation of loopholes in the US EB-1 visa category.
Time to drain the swamp now.
39
Try to laugh about hypocrisy, and not to get angry about it. It is everywhere, in all institutions. From this point of view, Trump's presidency gives us much to laugh about it.
All is not funny, though. There are limits. Somehow I cannot forget these hundreds of children separated at the border in such a barbaric way from their parents, and who still have not been reunified with them.
21
Well, thank god that these two got their citizenship. You know, before President Trump found a way to block chain migration, like he keeps promising to do. I guess we should all be thankful that this fine couple was brought to this great country by a woman who worked illegally on a tourist visa. You know, the opposite of my wife, who I sponsored for her green card, who wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to this country when she came, who is now a target of deportation because I, a US citizen, bought health insurance through the ACA exchange after finishing my graduate degree and while job hunting. As is my legal right and responsibility. But yeah, in this country, justice is blind...
51
And just take a look at what it's costing the American tax payer to protect them.
21
One rule for the royal family, and another rule for the plebs.
The USA has returned to Monarchy after 250 years.
23
Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.
18
I am a US citizen living abroad on contract. My wife had a green card for 30+years, taught thousands of children, paid taxes and cost the government exactly zero. She was put under so much brow-beating and stress by the INS (taken to private room for questioning etc.) every time we returned to the US she surrendered her green card for a quiet life. We're not coming back. After everything the President has screamed from the rooftops, this news (in addition to Melania getting an Einstein exemption) makes me want to puke – not because they were admitted, but because the Immigration people spend their time focused on soft targets and others who are apparently "more equal" are allowed to work the system.
102
Trump and Company have touted the need for skilled immigration. What, we must ask, are the skills that the Knavses actually bring? Selling automobiles? Having a daughter who has, in reality, "dubious" skills? We all know the answers: they have no purchase on these. It wouldn't be so bad if Trump could (is this at all possible) embrace the diverse needs of those who want to become Americans.In the Knavses cat, I suspect their drive for naturalization is fueled by greed and rank opportunism.
22
Maybe Mr Trump hadn’t wanted his in-laws to stay. At least he won’t be attacking jt from now on, though humility and consistency are not his and his supporters’ forte.
4
Not saying this is identical, but it's not entirely different. For six years or so, Obama called for repealing the Bush tax cuts for everyone except those with incomes over $250,000. Ever since, it is virtually certain that he took advantage of the very tax cuts he opposed.
1
@michjas - It's not even close.
17
Make America great again for shameless hypocrites.
49
Did they follow the immigration laws? Did they pass the test and background checks? Were they sponsored by someone who will take care of them if necessary providing housing, food, and medical care? So they followed the LAW. As for the VIP swearing in big deal. They were legal immigrants who became US citizens. Welcome. I just hope they don't wind up on Medicaid like many elderly parents and grandparents do who are brought here. Paying nothing into the system but reaping more benefits then those who support it all their lives. Welcome to America.
5
When the wealthy get more welfare than the poor, Medicaid is a necessity.
If we would put a progressive income tax system back in place: people who can afford to pay more into the system to help others would reduce these problems, and those who worked and had a decent income would not have to lose their homes because of property taxes based on what they could afford to buy while working.
3
Social Security was never designed to have those who paid in get it back.
The system requires each generation of workers to pay something to the *previous* generation of workers.
I like the flat tax idea myself. One rate no deductions no loopholes and it's done. I'm guessing that's what you meant by welfare. I live in a community with many naturalized citizens bringing elderly parents here and even grandparents. They get social services and Medicaid which here covers almost everything while seniors who are on Medicare get the shaft in plain language that is just not right. It's legal apparently but in Trumps in laws case I would expect that not to happen them sponging off a system they NEVER supported. But who knows I personally don't like chain migration unless the sponsors pick up the whole tab. Like it was when my family legally immigrated.
1
I hope against hope - all those real fake news outlets (Fox is prime example) ought to make Headlines out of Mrs T's parents becoming US Citizens.
Isn't this heartwarming?
The immigrant First Lady, now sponsors her immigrant parents? Really heartwarming.
Heattwarming (to Mr & Mrs T) just like those children torn apart from their parents at the border, seeking asylum (another path to legal residency) deemed unworthy of being among us in this great nation of IMMIGRANTS.
Too bad Mrs T couldn't attend the swearing-in ceremony. I'm sure she and her husband would have stood in the private ceremony, beaming, proudly but they were so far away (in NJ!).
19
@c. On such an important day (my parents immigrated to the USA and became proud American citizens) one would think that Melania & Baron would have attended the ceremony....hmmmm, seems very strange.
1
It's his in-laws! They obviously were here long before Trump even thought about being POTUS since there is a 5 year waiting period. Come to think of it, since they have been here a while maybe they are why he wants to end chain migration.
5
You would think that Trump would favor immigrants bringing in family members from their native country to live with them. What if these immigrants of various colors and religions come here and start marrying and starting families with white Christians? This further dilutes the pure white race that is so sacred to Trump and his followers.
14
Contrary to some opinions, I think the comments show New York Times readers are compassionate, extremely so.
President Trump wants to do away with family reunification. He does that by first dehumanizing it into “chain migration,” and then amping-up the hate and fear. For most who will be affected, this will cause sadness. This will cause loss. People will go through life without their parents, and their children will never know their grandparents. A foundation of stability will be gone.
Then — quietly, furtively, almost shamefully — his wife’s parents acquire citizenship. They are happy. Melania Trump is happy. Barron Trump will grow up knowing his grandparents. All is good.
This, I think, is what drives the tone of some comments. The hypocrisy is so great that some balance is needed. It is particularly egregious since we supposedly are a nation of laws, of which no man is above. Or should we have two sets of laws, one fof the rich and powerful, so they are happy, and one for everyone else?
I don’t know the Knavses. But I do know loss. I do know sadness. And I do know fairness.
21
This country has had different sets of laws for different groups, based on their economic and social status, since its founding.
Another question raised is - how is being a third-rate model a "unique skill?" Does anyone honestly believe that an American model agency couldn't find enough attractive women in this country, and was forced to look to Slovenia to provide one?
26
Would Melania Trump's parents have received US citizen status as fast as they have if their son in law was not in the White House? Would they have even sought citizenship? Was it their burning desire or just an opportunistic move? And why all the secrecy? Is it who you know not what you know about American history? They moved to the US permanently, I believe, on Trump's election in late 2016. That's two years, which does not qualify for the 5-year permanent residency requirement and more like chain migration special treatment.
45
Melania Trump's parents applied for citizenship legally unlike those who came here illegally and now want to allow every aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, etc. not to mention grandparent to come here too. Also, her parents would have probably arrived even if she was not Mrs. Trump.
They also applied for citizenship well before Donald Trump contemplated becoming president of the US. They will probably not bring in other relatives in the future so it is just the two of them. It is unlikely that they will look for the government to assist them in their financial needs. Let them live in peace.
7
@WPLMMT How would someone in the U.S. illegally be able to have relatives become citizens? Your example makes no sense.
1
@WPLMMT - Fascinating. Do you know these people personally? You seem to know a lot about their motives.
btw you may want to read about some of the legal applicants for citizenship who are being harassed by the Trump administration.
1
Why not say the same for every other person who could contribute to out society?
The poem to the Statue of Liberty we (or at least BosNYWashian boomers) learned in elementary school may have been somewhat saccharine, but summed up a later generation’s song about the nation - “Immigrants - We Get Things Done”.
Trump’s wife’s family will probably add nothing to our culture.
They won’t do backbreaking difficult mindless jobs to survive, or like Nazi rocket builders, led by murderous Werner von Braun, and company, imported by the internationally illegal “Project Paperclip” provide us with plans for a moon-conquering space program, contribute their lives to the Cold War.
Why should an immigrant be required to prove his/her worth to our society beyond remaining self-supporting?
Just the trauma of leaving home because it has become too dangerous or a place offering no chance to even survive by working hard should be sufficient.
For every Lin Manuel - who got “things done” then “Wrote My Way Out” of poverty with a couple of Broadway shows - currently ‘Hamilton’, there will be hundreds who just labor to survive and, like most folks born here, leave no mark on society, on either the moon or theater.
Immigrants, especially ‘illegals’, tend to commit fewer crimes than people born here, while quietly working hard to survive.
Unless held back by bigotry and the GOP philosophy that only the wealthy are entitled to a higher education, the next generation tends to do better.
Democrats should use this in campaign ads coast to coast. It captures, in very visceral and fundamental terms, the utter hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of this administration.
20
I would assume they receive Secret Service protection?
11
This reminds me of the program the Kushners were promoting to Chinese investors in their projects -pay $500,000 and you can get permanent residence in the US. Instead of Lady Liberty's book reading "Give us your tired and poor", Trump is changing it to "Give us your rich and your powerful".
15
And Reagan did the same thing. He sold citizenships to well-to-do internationalist and then showed his infinite gratefulness to Mammon by selling US ambassadorships to our unqualified domestic rich. Republicans never change.
8
@SenDan. ....and Rupert Murdoch....how did he get in the USA? Oh right, he bought his way into US citizenship.
This puts me in mind of the late Jim Nabors: "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
9
" I am the star of the #1 show in America. On ALL the networks. Probably the world, too. They talk about Trump everywhere you go. It's amazing. Trump says this, does the opposite. They don't even care! And I haven't even given them a REAL cliffhanger yet. Just wait. You'll see... NEXT season's gonna see even bigger ratings. Ratings like the world has never seen! Believe me!"
4
Is it true they are now eligible for Social Security and Medicare. How can that be when they have never paid into it. Nothing would surprise me though with Trump and the scared Republican yes men in Congress. I suppose we are feeding them as well. So much dishonesty and law breaking happening in this administration, we are probably flying them everywhere also. So sick of it all.
19
All citizens need to pay into social security for ten years before becoming eligible for benefits, whether you were born in the US or naturalized. Same rule applies to green card holders.
7
No, they would have to work a long time to become eligible for Social Security and Medicare.
Their sponsors are required to support them for life, though not really with enough to live on - I doubt this is a problem in this case - If the Son-in-law-in-Chief continues his pattern of short-lived marriages, it depends what’s in the pre-nup.
Please at least check the ICE web pages before spreading such misinformation.
The only government program they could be eligible for is what Trump has left standing of the Affordable Health Care Act, which allows those unemployed to BUY insurance.
2
@Eatoin Shrdlu ....What happens when that sponsor looses all their assets and goes to prison? How will they be able to afford living here without income? Are they employable at their ages? Neither one seems to have marketable skills. Do they own their apartment in Trump Towers? Do they own their country house?
My Grandfather came to America in 1906 and became a citizen because he had a unique skill. He had trained in Vienna as a pastry chef. Didn’t do him much good during the depression. Somehow, he and his wife (also an immigrant, who was a cook at Shrafts),bought a house in Bayside NY. Raised a family. Can someone explain to me how Melania Trumps parents are making a valuable statement for America?. There are so many more deserving people that should be getting citizenship.
19
The Republican elephant in the room is once again race. When Mr. Trump demonizes immigrants and rants about immigration, the clear implication is that he is talking about brown immigrants. His base certainly recognizes this for what it is. Trump and his supporters never mention the tens of thousands of illegal Irish immigrants who are already here. Trump's wife is white. His wife's parents are white. As their own lawyer put it, when white people do it, then it is the "bedrock of our immigration process," and "family unification." But when brown people do it, it is "chain migration" and the intent is to bring in "truly evil" family members.
We don't even know whether or not Mrs. Trump's parents followed the rules. We do know that the president does not believe the rules or the laws apply to him.
68
No problem to take children away from their parents and send the parents back to their own countries without their children. Something I thought I would never ever see happen in these times we live let alone in the USA. The double standards will have no effect on Trump's base he will dash off to appear in front of the faithful who will clap and cheer his every word no matter how much he lies and misleads them. It will be the evil media's fault just watch Fox News they are the only ones that are truthful. That is even more scary when people accept that.
10
White immigrants have ALWAYS been subject to a different standard in this land of the free and equal. Some are just more equal than others.
7
Proof positive Trump does not know what he is talking about, let alone doing.
27
Oh he knows. He just doesn’t care.
1
I can't wait to hear how Sarah Huckabee-Sanders spins this.
Perhaps she will have enough decency to "defer" the matter to the President.
10
Come on. Everybody knows that when Trump rags about something you can bet he's going to turn around and do the very thing he rags about. It's what he does.
36
They'll all get kicked out with the new regulations. Trump got all sorts of corporate welfare and tax breaks. Even legal immigrants have to leave if they've relied on public funds.
3
President Donald J. Trump a shameless hypocrite? I'm shocked -- shocked!
26
Yeah, a couple per family isn't a problem. It's the entire clan that becomes the problem.
But the greater question for the public weal: Immediate resources consumed versus potential revenue produced--and potential is always the fantasy play--i.e., merit matters more.
2
Trump's a bloody hypocrite, but we all knew that already.
33
Lots of comments about the hypocrisy of the use of chain migration to facilitate the entry of the Knavses but what about Viktor Knavs' history as a Communist party official? What kind of special secirity screening has he received to make sure he is not a sleeper agent or somone with links to Soviet intelligence? The possibility of placing someone else close to Trump must warm the hearts of Putin's colleagues. Even if he is not personally enthusiastic about spying for the Russians what are the possibilities that actions taken when he was a Communist can now be used to blackmail him? One more example of Trump's rash behavior putting the country in danger. Never thought I would see the day when we are corrupted from within by Red Republicans.
47
It's completely consistent with his approach to governance. If a policy or action benefits him or people he cares about, it's good and permissible. If it hurts them, or benefits anyone else, it's a disgusting and dangerous waste of money.
569
@MS
And those that oppose either of those approaches are subject to change via executive order or other questionable fiat. Just like any "very stable" dictator would do.
3
Well said.
Oh now here's a surpirse: Trump living according to different laws than he wants to impose on the rest of the world. HE causes others to suffer. HE separates children from their parents. HE causes people who have earned and have a right to be here (members of families who are citizens - spouses, children) to be forcibly sent away. As a country founded and forged by immigrants and defenders of freedom and the oppressed, we should be ashamed of this president's self-serving and self-absorbed ways.
1110
@Paxinmano We are ashamed of trump.
The repubs should be even more so to have foisted him on us.
2
@Paxinmano
I believe Trump is the symptom while the all powerful GOP holding the purse strings do nothing but rubber stamp and fund such programs and policies. They are the cancer on our democratic values.
2
@Paxinmano
Trust me, the shame has over taken my soul. I grieve for America and for all those supporters who have allowed themselves to be conned by the biggest con artist of all time. Trump has conned many, but truly his latest reality show con job has been his greatest accomplishment.
2
And now they are immediately eligible for Medicare and Social Security (which the Republicans call entitlements!) without ever having contributed anything to the country while the President is doing everything he can do deny DACA recipients their basic dignity and desire to meaningfully contribute to the betterment of our country. Such brazen hypocrisy of this man and the GOP!!
836
@PK.
No one is is "Immediately eligible for Medicare and Social Security"without having paid into Social Security.
One must pay into Social Security for a minimum number of quarters in order to be eligible for Social Security and Medicare Benefits.
@PK I'm not sure that is correct. Without contributing the minimum required units into the Social Security system, benefits would be zero. Medicare Part A might be automatic and Part B would require premiums.
@PK No, to get Medicare and Social Security, an individual must have 40 covered quarters of work during which s/he paid into both programs.
I am an American citizen who is married to a lovely Japanese woman and citizen of Japan. We have two kids, both of whom are also American citizens. We are in our fourth year of dealing with the bureaucracy of the US Immigration Department, having to obtain countless documents, translations from Japanese to English and now having to find the inoculation records of my 48 year old wife. Who, besides children, have their measles mumps and rubella records? I guess the parents of "Einstein visas" have all that information and are able to slide through quite nicely in a private ceremony. Congratulations to them. I wish I knew the "right" people.
1666
@Mike:
Well Melania's dad was a communist - maybe that counts for something with Donald these days.
54
@Mike
You do. Without question, your wife is a better person than any Trump or Trump relative or Trump cohort.
Good luck.
7
@Mike
My wife just naturalized, but my stepdaughter (initially entering the U.S. at age 14, now 26, married to a U.S. citizen, with two U.S. citizen children) has been delayed over a year in just the biometric portion (we believe the USCIS worker was upset about having to take the photo a second time, and trashed the information after we left the appointment). She received a naturalization interview date, then it was cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".
That would be because otherwise she could vote in the mid-terms...
1
...and Mar-a-Lago applied for visas more than 70 immigrant workers...and, in spite of doubling initiation fees to $200,000 because club members get to see Trump all the time, line cooks who already only make $13/hour will actually be paid less this year.
Immigration for Trump but not for an aging town that needs an influx of young people, not for the produce company that needs pickers, not for the college missing its professor, not for the children missing their parents. But, of course, immigration for Trump.
114
Knavses, now in their 70's, will be taking advantage of Medicare for years to come. They likely didn't contribute much to the system.
142
How do you know where they will live, whether they will own property, or whether the state they live in has significant property taxes? And, property taxes don’t fund Medicare.
And, how do you know Mrs. Trump’s parents won’t sponsor their own siblings, then Mrs. Trump’s aunts and uncles sponsor their own children and they sponsor their own children etc?
I think that unless the person has a valid need for asylum, they should enter and be here according to our laws; but getting special treatment because your son in law (who can’t even pronounce your daughter, his wife’s, name properly) is in the government is also immoral.
45
@Alex You might not know but people70 and older are completely or partially exempt from paying property taxes, so the least the Knavses are going to pay are HOA dues or building maintenance fees while living in an exclusive neighborhood. I doubt either of these contribute to the support of social service programs most Americans spend a lifetime contributing to.
17
@Elizabeth Carlisle "They'll be paying property taxes on wherever they live, whether our President pays them or themselves."
The irony of this statement is astounding
1
We all parse the meaning of Trump's tweets and other random utterances, day in and day out. Here we go again complaining about his complete lack of logic or consistency about chain migration.
But, really, a lot of what we need to understand about Trump is on www.trumpgolfcount.com: 132 days on golf courses since the start of his presidency at a cost to taxpayers of $74 million. He's golfing (and getting richer by giving himself tax cuts that his lower and middle income voters will pay for.)
Stop parsing - vote Democratic to take away his power in November and vote him out in 2020.
170
But, will the Millennials and Gen Y'ers even bother to vote? 51% of the Millennials didn't vote in the 2016 presidential election. Apparently, it was too much trouble to put their cell phones down and vote.
9
Lona, agreed! But it's not just young people who aren't voting- it was awful to see, with the New York Times voting tracker, how few people of any voting age bothered to go to the polls!
1
Trump's grandfather came to the USA as an unaccompanied minor. Melania's parents just got citizenship through chain migration. Trump is making it hard for other corporations to hire workers from abroad but his own get to keep doing it. Trump's buddies in steel manufacture are being allowed to
decide which companies needing steel to make products like cars will be permitted exemptions from paying the 25% overseas tariff. Not amazingly, his buddies are deciding everyone must henceforth buy from them at the higher prices.
Kleptocracy, anyone?
229
Well done the NYT for highlighting this gross hypocrisy : with no ill-will towards the Knavses, they have, very blatantly (but legally) availed of a provision which this President continues to aggressively deride, oppose and claim must be reversed, in America's interests.
Of course, these people, in President Trump's eyes, were "different" : (I) they were, first and foremost, "Family", and (ii) they were White - two considerations which, clearly, override any other issue, and thus make this latest decision "justifiable in America's interests".
And, realising just how many of President Trump's statements and actions have been anti-immigrant, should decent, ordinary American People just simply stand back and ignore this whole affair?
81
Laws for thee, but not for me-- that's this whole administration.
53
Of course Trump hates a policy that brought his in-laws to this country. I imagine most of us with in-laws would.
11
no special treatment and yet they get a private ceremony ? security reasons no doubt ;)
35
Mary Anne MacLeod was sponsored by her sister in 1930 and Friedrich trump by his brother in 1885. the First Lady's family reminds us today that this has always been who we are: immigrants proud to become naturalized citizens. Congratulations to Viktor and Amalija Knavs and all those who took their oath of citizenship this year.
9
@Maureen Saying that we are all immigrants rudely, if conveniently, denies the lives and thousands-years heritage of Indigenous Peoples whom all us immigrants have displaced, and some of our neighbors’ immigrant ancestors ethnically cleansed. That’s nothing to be proud about.
7
Such hypocrisy. I myself came to this country 24 years ago from Spain. I had an H1B visa (employment visa) which in itself took me over a year to obtain, back in Spain. It took me six years to get my Green Card. I obtained my citizenship about 10 years after that (I didn't apply for it right away). There was an interview, in English, with questions about American politics, history and geography. I'm not trying to be unkind, but I seriously doubt that Melania's parents can even speak much English. When people of that age were at school, back in the former Yugoslavia, I don't imagine much English was taught. So how did they pass the citizenship test?
91
@Juliet That's an excellent point, Juliet. The time frame and the language. You may have tagged an extra five on the second step, but other than that, your's is the general tenor of stories we all hear.
16
The Trump saga gets worse and worse. Now, in a shameless travesty of justice, he has "sponsored" his elderly in-laws for citizenship. They meet none of the criteria he thumps his stump to demand. They are not astrophysicists or computer whizzes. They are not even Norwegians. Under Trump's criteria, in what way will they benefit this country?
They will not be willing to work in the fields harvesting our crops for minimum wages, they will not clean motel rooms, or fix our roads, or care for our children, or do any of the hard work the displaced people who risk everything to come to our country routinely do.
Under Trump's proposed rules, there is no way they would ever be admitted to our country, let alone become citizens.
79
He is the child of an immigrant, grandchild of another, of spouse of two others - so far. His immigrant in-laws becoming citizens?
It's all in the family.
46
I think the a Democrat would do the same-ALL of our politicians are corrupt-no exceptions.
3
The issue is not the fact that they became citizens. Democrats actually welcome that. Your anger is misguided because Democrats aren't railing against these policies daily like Trump is
2
@nigel cairns I'm not aware of any Democrats who have excorciated immigrants while being married to a former illegal, employing thousands of illegals, and paying millions in fines for illegal construction labor. Heck, I'm not aware of any Republicans with such blatant hypocrisy. Pretty much a Trump thing.
Ironically, it is very possible that Amalija and Viktor know more about the US constitution and our laws than does their son-in-law. The 100 q's on the test would have failed Trump were he to have taken it as a requirement before being sworn in especially the one about the laws of the country being applicable to every single citizen and resident.
Besides all that, these two are immigrants from "good countries" and if you use your imagination a bit, look almost "blonde". So why would Trump rail against chain immigration in this case?
Viktor and Amalija - welcome to our wonderful and diverse country. We are glad to have you here.
9
The family is welcome. Trump's hypocrisy is not.
55
@John T Harding Well put. Too bad though that is was what we were founded upon, and that the only way to change something is to acknowledge that it exists. Read any Zinn lately; Howard? Noam Chomsky? IF I win the lottery tomorrow it's part of a stack of books I'm sending to every member of our government!
14
Why wait til you win the lottery? If you really believe the books will make a make a difference, make the investment. If not just because, then get used editions if need be, and make the expenditure your holiday or birthday gift to yourself and instead of material gifts for those you care about.
7
@Rachel Burnett
When I took American History at Queens College College , the professor , chose Howard Zinn's:" A People's History of the United States" as the course's textbook.
Zinn left an indelible impression on me, some 35+ years ago.
I concur with ROI. You don't have to wait until you win the lottery. You could start by sending one copy to an official of your choice, tomorrow.
2
typical of this "president", who supposedly abhors many things that he and his family do all the time. especially lying. there is a huge disconnect between his beliefs and his acts.
58
If you don't like Trump's hypocrisy, there's one sure-fire way to send him a message: Vote in November for a Democrat. Doesn't matter if the Democrat is running for Congress, Governor, State Legislature, or Dogcatcher - the only way Trump will back off is if Democrats are elected. Added bonus: They will impeach him.
180
Bringing only 2 parents is not chair migration. Chain migration is when a dozen or so migrate and they bring a dozen and ultimately one or two person ends bringing in 100s. At some point making the Immigration merit based and scarce skills based only for a few years on a trial basis would be worth a try. Also having the immigrants with skills populate the sparse areas of the country instead of the megacities would be beneficial to America.
4
@Girish Kotwal - Please stop repeating what you heard on Hannity. US citizens and permanent residents can sponsor immediate relatives (parents, spouse, minor children) and preference relatives (siblings, children over 21, their spouses and children). Extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws and cousins) cannot be sponsored.
7
@Girish Kotwal
Trump's existence and that of his entire family is a result of chain immigration. I'll let you count how many Trumps total are in the USA, all being result of chain immigration.
@Lynn in DC. Just stop being theoretical and simplistic. In reality what you say does not happen exclusively. Spouses can sponsor his or her parents and the minor children when they grow and get married can sponsor the spouses parents who in turn can sponsor their children. If millions can enter the USA illegally through our porous borders, millions can also enter via chain migration with time.
I don't need Hannity to tell me the truth. I can find it from a wide spectrum of reports. Here is a link to CNN about the alleged chain migration of a NY terrorist.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/politics/ny-terror-bomb-family-chain-migr...
Entitled. Bet they teach them that not using their turn signal when they drive is not necessary too.
9
How nice to have VIP status and even a private ceremony... My neighbor just acquired the us citizenship. He came to the US with and H1B visa (3 yrs), then renew it for another 3 yrs; after that, he applied for permanent residency and it took him another 3 years to get his permanent residence status. After 5 yrs, he applied for citizenship and it took 2 more years to finally be sworn as a US citizen. 16 years and thousands of dollars in lawyers and fees! But of course, he is just a regular hard worker who supports his family and DO pays taxes year after year... why should he deserve better? He is not a celebrity, nor rich. He does not know anybody famous, or a politician. Did I forgot to mention he came from Mexico? Oh...! No wonder... Now I get it!
174
Does the fact that their daughter is married to the president somehow disqualify them from becoming citizens by legal means?
10
@Gusto Of course it can be legal, but the timing doesnt add up. See my post above. According to USCIS, the current wait time is 1.5 YEARS.
19
Chain migration is probably the most common form, whether from one country to another or within country. In the mid-1970s I shared an office at UC Berkeley with a Palestinian classmate. Remarking on the number of gas stations in the Bay Area run by persons from the Middle East, he replied that not only were they Palestinians, but they came from the same neighbourhood.
2
I’m just glad they came and stayed pursuant to the rule of law. Eleven million others did not.
12
@Conservative Democrat Did they wait for the required five years before applying for citizenship? If not, they broke the law. Period.
4
@Conservative Democrat, Melania included. She came illegally, and her parents chain migration is only due to her receiving legal residency following illegal work under a tourist visa.
1
Now commonly referred to as the Exact Opposite Presidency. Everything I excoriate, I am doing myself.
49
And every bad thing he does, he denies and projects onto others by accusing them of it.
3
America's Liar in Chief Trump, true hypocrite to the bone will never acknowledge this event. Lying and deceiving America but turn the tables around for personal gain. Open the gates then close them according to his whims.
43
I can certainly see where many would take this as a direct and flagrant contradiction to Trump's previous statements and rightly so. But there is a difference, a slight difference when talking about a nuclear family (mom, dad, brothers/sisters) and one that includes any and all blood relatives who can make the trip. There is need to define who can sponsor and who may be sponsored. I am all in on the immediate/nuclear family which I believe to be fully acceptable; numerous aunts, uncles, grand parents, cousins, and their spouses etc would in my mind constitute a 'chain' and therefore not acceptable.
1
@old sarge Agree. However, it takes others nearly two years to receive citizenship documentationbut they received it right away. Foul.
@old sarge - Melania's parents are not part of her nuclear family. Her nuclear family is Donald and Baron Trump.
Two very close relatives. Melania isn't sponsoring a whole questionable tribe of relatives! Her parents aren't going to depend on our tax dollars to survive in America. Big difference.
4
Right, yet another Russian and communist connection to Trump. Let's not forget they're all from a former soviet and communist country and her father was in the league of communists there...
12
It is only natural that Trump would demonstrate his corruption & hypocracy with his enforcement of immigration policy.
I wonder how Trump supporters explain this to themselves.
14
Slovenia? I thought they were Norwegians!
16
There isn't a single time that Trump has made a comment or a decision that is not a hypocritical one. Someday, I hope, his blind followers will understand. I have given up trying to understand why he is still there. Voting and protests.
10
What? They weren't separated and put into separate empty buildings 500 miles apart in sweltering heat, that's been divided up by chain link fencing? They weren't drugged to minimize their distress? They weren't, perhaps, sexually abused by someone who already has HIV? They weren't, perhaps, trafficked off to work in our disgusting chicken and egg-laying factories and have 90% of their pay stolen? They just got to walk right in, huh? With a nice suit and a nice dress? Fascinating.
25
Off topic a bit, but inquiring minds want to know: is Trump older or younger than his father-in-law? Asking for a friend.
30
The hypocrisy of the anti-immigrant know-nothings is staggering.
Just last night, one of the loudest anti-immigrant voices, Laura Ingraham of Fox News, said this: “In some parts of the country, it does seem like the America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore."
This might seem very odd, but it is my sincere hope that Ingraham's daughter is never subjected to the hate voiced by her own mother. You see, Ingraham's adopted daughter is from Guatemala, which makes the young girl one of `them'.
22
Trump's hypocrisy knows no limits. Congratulations to Melania's parents. But perhaps the First Lady can remind her husband that our nation was built through the toil of immigrants....and refugees.
One final thought....since "our" wealthy First Couple most likely will spend several million on Amalija and Viktor's new home, they may want to consider our tax dollars going toward entities like, let's say, finding shelter and a promise for a better life here for all those thousands fleeing violence and oppression, as close to us as this nation's other America. But let's not hold our breaths...
13
Let's not forget that Melania herself got a visa to which she was not entitled. Someone obviously bent the rules. She got what is know as the "Einstein Visa", the EB-1, that is reserved for highly acclaimed persons-- Pulitzer Prize, Oscar, and Olympic winners, as well as respected academics. Melania's qualifications were that she was a pretty Slovenian model dating Donald Trump.
32
If you are not a US citizen it helps to have a good looking daughter marry a wealthy American. It is not for a cash exchange, only citizenship. Just a classier version of the oldest business.
19
Once again, in typical GOP fashion, Trump demands for himself what he denies to everyone else. I hope he remembers at the next rally to tell his supporters that these two "particular" immigrants shouldn't be violently beaten on site, because, by knowing him personally, they are "exceptions" to the rule. See how that works!
And the ever expanding cesspool continues to grow, and consume. Ever more, and more, and more...
21
None of this will matter until Trump’s base turns on him, if they ever do. He is immune to charges of hypocrisy, because as we all know, it’s always all about him. To be chastened, he would need to feel shame, which is an emotion alien to him, and proudly so. But should some event somehow cause his base to turn ugly, many, many Trump failings, flaws and actions will bubble up and amplify each other. I won’t hold my breath.
20
Did we really need this? The US already has 360 million people.
9
We certainly don't need these elderly people who will be a drain on our socialized Medicare system. Melanie's father looks to be in pretty bad shape. Now our taxpayer dollars will pay for his expensive medical care, to which they've contributed nothing.
3
I hope that they are not required to avoid contact with criminals.
16
Ahhh, now I know why DT hates "chain migration." He had to accept a coupla' new in-laws that he undoubtedly holds in disregard. Given his treatment of wives, he may just be angry that he couldn't simply deport Melania too instead of being stuck with another family... So he's lashing out at everyone else over his own continuing weaknesses and failures.
7
i'm guessing that neither parent is a space scientist; so what particular skill set did they offer that this country was in need of...
oh, of course. silly me.
19
@linda. .....the mom worked in a textile factory and the dad was a Communist Party Official and a traveling salesman. Neither one will be working & contributing in the USA.
1
This isn't even the worst of it. Melania Trump got her green card through a very limited "genius" program, a so-called "Einstein" visa for artists and other individuals of extraordinary ability. Melania's qualifications? She was a model! Semi-nude photographs were part of her "evidence" of genius.
Trump and his family have benefited greatly from the laws he opposes. More lies, hypocrisy and chicanery from the worst President in our history.
I am ashamed for our nation and furious at the MAGA-heads, who just don't care.
94
Normally, this would be a proud moment, shared with America as an example of a hard-earned reward. Instead, it stinks of rotted fish, and is held in secret, because it won't stand the light of day. Like most of trump's self-serving deals. Disgusting, as the con-man says so often.
18
What's to understand? Trump hates Chain Migration when the people are brown skinned or Muslim. If they are white or Nordic in ancestry. Hey no problem!
60
I guess if you are white and have the POTUS as a son in law there is nothing wrong about using the policies he rallies against to accomplish what he deems "not acceptable."
20
It tells you everything you need to know about this family who have no sense of dignity or decency, parading their newly acquired citizenship while thousands of real asylum seekers are being separated from their families, deported without due process and are stripped of their dignity.
And all that while the patriarch of the Trumps and the president of this country is trying to undue the very program that made them citizens of.
What a shame.
32
Everyday, from multiple sources and in a fairly objective fashion, we are inundated with data that supports one undeniable truth: Donald Trump is corrupt and, far more troubling... delusional.
There is no other explanation for a human being who can fervently denounce Chain Migration while an entire nation watches the parents of his wife become citizens of said nation via (wait for it...) CHAIN MIGRATION.
23
For people who want to build "compassionate socialism" in this country NYT commenters exhibit too much hate. I am sorry, but hate can and will take this country down.
2
well....they are white...that's different
15
I don 't blame Melania for wanting to create a better life for her parents. But the son in law is a snake in a suit.
20
Better life? I’m sure she’s able to provide for them quite nicely wherever they live. If she is emotionally close with her parents or believes that having US citizen parents will help her escape the guy who probably hired her to be his wife, then fine. Just don’t paint a picture of her parents as somehow being downtrodden and in need.
13
Does this now mean that Melania is safe to leave Donald? Could this be why she stayed tied to him? I suppose we will find out in an upcoming episode of Keeping Up With The Trumps.
20
@Anne -
She was safe anyway. She's a U.S. citizen.
1
Has everybody already forgotten about all the children being held in cages .Most will never see their parents again.
21
Flagrant Hypocrisy : Episode 643
The Rules Simply Don't Apply To Us
10
This is not even close to the most egregious example of Trump’s hypocrisy on immigration. Donald Trump hired hundreds of undocumented workers (and underpaid them), for which he was later forced to pay $1.4 million in penalties.
Donald Trump demonizes immigrants for his own political purposes, and he is dragging down our country in the process. He needs to be kept in check and held accountable for his lies and hypocrisy.
24
Simply the latest example in the endless stream of hypocrisy that comes from Donald Trump.
15
What amazes me ...still, is that anyone could trust or believe anything at all, anything, that Donald Trump says or does. It amazes me.
23
Also, Ivanka is an anchor baby.
40
I'm certain that Ms. Trump's parents are Einsteins, just like Melania herself. Just look at Melania's hard, sullen, angry face - no one who scowls like that could possibly be stupid. And how about her genius decision to wear a teen girl's jacket inscribed with "I Don't Care, Do U" both before & after visiting a place of human suffering?
Don't you believe that Melania is a gracious, intelligent & inspiring woman, one who wants to leave the world a better place than she found it? She must have inherited all that warmth & intellect from her parents. So let's welcome them with the same generosity, maturity & unselfishness that Melania has demonstrated as First Lady.
20
Trump and his supporters are only against non-white chain migration. Norwegians and Slovenians are welcome.
20
@TK Sung The Danish are also welcome in the non-white chain migration.
As Seth Meyers said so aptly on his show back in late February of 2017, "When it comes to being a hypocrite, Donald Trump has a zero handicap, he's the Tiger Woods of Hypocrisy."
22
Trump has the gold. Trump makes the rules. You don’t like it? Lump it.
His followers? Mostly empty-headed types who have no fuel in their tanks, just running on fumes. Driving around in metaphorical cars with 3 donuts and a “may-pop,” as in 3 tiny dinner-plate sized “spares,” and a bald old tire that may pop at any moment. Down to their last nickel. No savings. No future. So they support Trump, the Rabble Rouser, even while he is picking their pockets with them looking.
Never before has someone in the public eye been so openly greedy, needy, hypocritical and obnoxious on a daily basis. Never before have so many lemming-like Americans been willing to dance, single file, behind a giant rat such as Trump.
May it soon pass.
47
Calm down people or you will trigger another million dollar taxpayer funded trip to the spa.
8
You should be able to argue policy on the one hand and behave in a manner that serves your interest even if it contradicts that policy. That is not hypocrisy. Example: I think you can feel strongly that you (and everybody in your situation) should pay higher taxes. I do not think that obligates you to write an extra check to the IRS every April. Spend your ire elsewhere in this buffet of hypocrisy. This is a cheap shot.
@Herman - Your example wouldn't work. If you write an extra check to the IRS every April, they will either refund it to you or put it down as a credit on next years taxes...
4
Trump’s narcissistic logic is huuuugely transparent:
Trump marries an Einstein visa recipient, therefore he is a stable genius.
Trumps declares his hatred for chain migration:
1. therefore he hates Melania’s family & will mutate this into one of the grounds for divorcing her; or,
2. But it’s okay for Melania’s parents because they are “gold” chain immigrants therefore he is not a bigly hypocrite.
8
Will Melania now issue a statement in support of the so-called chain migration that has reunified her with her parents?
If the chain migration policy is good for the Trumps family, why is it bad for the Jose Juan Rodriguez's family?
It clearly shows the president's racial preferences.
17
Vote! Or we will be stuck with him and his spineless administration for the next six years.
30
"...but his in-laws just used it."
Maybe that's why he hates it.
8
Trump grows increasingly detached from reality on a daily basis. He is Citizen Kane without Rosebud.
14
An Einstein visa? You mean we have two “stable geniuses” in the White House?
31
One stable genius and one slightly unstable on stilettos genius.
3
Suppose trump will take them with him when he emigrates to Putin's Russia - or will they be staying with FLOTUS and Barron?
14
Trump’s “do as I say, not as I do” moment. The lying President is a bundle of sickening contradictions. Here is one fact that is not a contradiction, Trump is bad for the Nation.
24
HYPOCRISY AT IT’S FINEST...
4
Unchained melody!
6
Seems to me that this kind of corruption would be business as usal to Amalija and Viktor Knavs and to FLOTUS. And it is all A-OK with the Trump's "base" and the republican party
13
Why are the Knavs any different than anyone else seeking to become U.S. citizens? First, they are the current president's current in-laws. Second, they are white Europeans.
My family remaining in Europe in 1939 had no such advantages and the glaring disadvantage of being Jewish when antisemitism was he policy during the Nazi occupation...and politely done by our State Department (see Breckenridge Long).
10
Trump (the rest of the Republicans of today) thy name is hypocrisy.
10
Trump: My grandfather did not come to America to create a great life for his family just to have immigrants ruin it.
You might note that we taxpayers are paying for the Department of Homeland Security to give Melania's parents an escort.
Sad.
22
one of the many ways white privilege manifests and one of the many things that betrays the racist underpinnings of President Trump's rhetoric. irony just died.
16
I don't think you quite get it. There's chain migration of blacks and Hispanics (bad) and there's chain migration for white Europeans (good). Maybe Trump's fourth wife will be Norwegian and he can really get it right next time.
11
Donald Trump - Hypocrite-in-Chief. Do those who are his base voters READ? And do they get the hypocrisy from that lying mouth? I suppose not.
Now Mr. and Mrs. Knavs can enjoy their autumn years in the USA as American citizens. Their daughter got it all nicely done for them. I wonder if M/M Knavs have any sense of shame about what their son-in-law, the president, says about people who did what they did. Chain migration worked for Melania's parents but their chains are made of gold.
15
You can't make this bad movie up. The hypocrisy, lying, cheating, covering up and mostly complete incompetence by this administration. It never ends.
18
Eat cake, America.
23
If Melania can do it by virtue of her (undeserved) husband's power, why not the 'lower classes' Trump is so despicable about? Do we smell hypocrisy here, as when Trump hired 'undocumented workers' for his private estates...while pretending ignorance about it?
8
Trump has been completely consistent. He has always been clear when he attacks immigrants that he is talking about brown or black people. The Knavs are white.
11
Absolutely outrageous!
12
Will Jeff Sessions be sending them "home" on a plane tonight, like he tried to send that mother-and-daughter from El Savador earlier today? Or does chain migration only work for "special" people ? What a farce! Seems Lady Liberty only lifts her lamp beside the golden door ... for hypocrites.
Glad to see the ACLU is doing the right thing.
19
"Do as I say, not as I do." -DJT
6
Trump's GOP United States grant Caucasians the RIGHT to such citizenship; ALL other races "GO HOME!"
4
I betcha the father is wearing an ankle monitor under that cast.
3
@Ron J.
That's their lawyer ... still, he could be wearing an ankle monitor.
5
No issue with him using law as it exists. I don't recall the Times making a big deal about Obama's aunt being here illegally and living in subsidized housing.
2
oh wow... not only preferential treatment re their immigration; but they get to live in the white house in between their travels to florida, new York and whatever travels chief twit decides to embark on...
sweet.
7
Obama’s mother-in-law lived in the WH to help with their daughters. Having his grandparents close will be good for Barron too. Perhaps seeing this benefit to his own child will open the president’s heart to other immigrants relatives. We can only hope.
And to think that our "reds" which how now become Russian-esque do not get it: that this monster in the White House has nothing left regarding a moral guidance.
7
How will they discuss this tonight on FOX?
10
Standard hypocrisy from the authoritarian party/conservatives. They hate something when non-whites use it...but if their own family uses it, then it comes from hated to cherished.
5
When you elect a clown expect a circus...
22
Who is foolish enough to offer any allegiance, any credulity to this president? He knows nothing, believes nothing but his own demagoguery. Everything he says is a lie carefully chosen to manipulate.
Slovenia is not sending us their best. Why are these chain migrants and jump-to-the-front-of the-line communists allowed on Air Force one?
The worst is that trump doesn’t even try to hide his hypocrisy.
10
Trump doesn't believe in "chain migration" for my parents or my relatives, but it's ok for his family. He's a disgusting human being who has no business leading a great and diverse country.
18
Reminds me of an old James Carville quote, "It's the hypocrisy, stupid". Yes I know I took some liberties.
5
And his first and present wives are immigrants.
15
@MidWest
On his MSNBC program recently Larry O'Donnell had a fascinating story about Trump's first wife. He said that she had crossed the Canadian / US border illegally, lived in the US for some time. Then she married Donald, had Ivanka and the two older sons, and lived comfortably in the US as an illegal, undocumented immigrant as Donald Trump's wife for eleven years before finally becoming a naturalized citizen. If this is correct, then I don't understand why these facts are not widely known.
12
@Margaret - The denaturalization task force should examine Ivana's path to citizenship for possible fraud.
Irredeemably hypocritical and corrupt.
To quote my dear late grandmother, “Shocked but not surprised.”
9
"Don't Do As I Do, Do As I Say"!! What a Chump - Trump. While many have waited YEARS to become Citizens (with all the proper documentation), Trump manages Citizenship for his in-laws in just a FEW SHORT DAYS. What a MISERABLE, LYING, DECEITFUL HUMAN BEING!! How many LAWS did he BREAK??
12
That’s rich! Such hypocrisy!
10
I voted for someone I knew to be stupid hoping things would get done and will probably vote for him again if the economy keeps rolling along. But, this goes beyond stupidity. Railing against something and then using is hypocrisy mixed with stupidity. I am looking ford to Trump playing the "tin man" in the remake of the Wizard of Oz.
4
@tom blackmon......I planned to view your comment as sarcasm, of course no surprise would be forthcoming if it was not....
I guess Melania's people are the 'right' colour.
(Sarcasm, not hate speech)
12
His supporters are unfazed by his hypocrisy. thanks
5
Good country America
2
In spite of their occasional attempts at public affection, Donald and Melania are clearly sick of each other. She's way too old for him, and he's …… disgusting.
There will be a divorce. Melania's family will continue to be with her and her son, and she will be silent. What other reason could there be to slide these people under the immigration wire at such a politically terrible time?
It's simply part of the deal.
16
...And his constituents will hear, "This is a left-wing-liberal-media/deep state conspiracy to throw Republicans out of power."... blah-blah-blah
9
Furthermore, Trump's father in law is a former communist cadre, now a go-between for secret messages from Donny to Putin, former KGB spy and master puppeteer. Take that Hannity and Alex Jones!!
11
President Trump has repeatedly and vehemently denounced what he calls “chain migration,”
The truth is, that only applies to people of colour. White people are the exception.
Just more evidence that the President is a racist.
12
OMG, people.
Don't you get it, even now?
Trump is Trump. He claims to be rich, he's white, and he also claims to be a man.
He, obviously, isn't one, but he plays an Evangelical Christian on Fox TV.
In an opinion regularly backed up by our Supreme Court, he believes the law does not apply to him or anybody he happens to like at the moment.
What are you gonna do about it?
Personally, I can't wait for the Donny/Melania split, and watch his institution of the "former in-laws" policy demanding immigrants be sent home upon their child's divorce.
True the Knavses "are not part of this administration" (except, of course, they are), but here they are from the viscous and violent Communist Slovenia, smuggled in under a model's petticoats to take up my space, breathe my air, illicitly influence my First Lady. I'm sure they're taking somebody 's jobs.
Yet again, our President fails, and abandons us.
8
And to think in my naïveté I have spent all these years believing that John Gotti was the “Teflon Don.”
Sorry, Don John, Don Don is the real Teflon Don. You, Don John, were just a second rate mobster.
9
Melanie should be properly referred to as First Gold digger. A lady she is not.
18
Happy for her folks. Welcome to America. Can this be over soon. like a nightmare that keeps happening during waking hours.
Can we make them live in the camps down near the border of Mexico? I mean, let's be fair..
Melania..darling..
save yourself now. You know what is right. This will haunt you for the rest of your days. Donnie is going to the big house.
8
Trump's voters would continue to deny any evidence about the fact that this president is the most hypocritical man alive.
7
Next, Trump will offer Putin a green card then U.S. citizenship based on meritocracy for his 2016 presidential win.
8
The rich and powerful don't think they should have to follow the same rules as lesser people. So they don't.
31
This is the same Trump corporation that tried to sell Visas to their real estate investors.
19
Speaking of chain migration, I am reminded of a story told to me by an extraordinarily attractive young woman years ago. Her family lived in the capital of a Latin American country famous for its beauty pageant contestants.
A member of her church congregation, aware of the unwanted attention and the consequent misery caused by her unmistakable beauty, offered to help by introducing her to a friend that worked at the US Embassy.
I'll spare everyone explicit description of the series of quid pro quos she was compelled to negotiate to secure visas for herself, her mother and her older brother. The family was able to emigrate legally within a year. Ironically, she could not completely escape unwanted attention but the outright assaults became a rarity.
Ultimately, she claimed no regrets. The family has prospered since their arrival in New York.
9
President Trump likely stages his comments to create a record of his 'official' view to cover the optics of conflict-of-interest - like using his D.C. hotel and gold courses to entertain foreign interests.
The President could argue immigration law permits 'chain migration' and the democrats refuse to cooperate on changes to the law. (He used that before on his promise to build the Wall - blaming the Dems for not allowing budget appropriations that would fund the Wall.)
President Trump is the sterotype of a cunning man. But is it an act? I think so. His hold on 'his base', including registered Republicans, is bewildering. His twitter taunts distract MLM and opponents from the smart operator who exploits opportunities in realtime. His twitter account is a defensive tool to distract his enemies and loyal following.
If the FLOTUS finds comfort in having mom and dad nearby while she passes through a challenging marriage - does anyone believe her marriage is 'normal'?, then more power to her.
The bottom-line, if no law has been broken, the Knavs citizenship is not important.
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Trump is THE Cunning Man, as described by Tiffany Aching just before she destroys him:
"‘You never learn, do you?’ she said. ‘You don’t understand that other people think too. Of course
you wouldn’t run into the fire; but in your arrogance you never realized that the fire would run to you.’
Your power is only rumour and lies, she thought. You bore your way into people when they are
uncertain and weak and worried and frightened, and they think their enemy is other people when their
enemy is, and always will be, you – the master of lies. Outside, you are fearsome; inside, you are
nothing but weakness."
from Terry Pratchett, "I Shall Wear Midnight," p. 189
Chain migration is ok by Trump as long as they're white.
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Well, maybe not all whites, only those from (northern) europe
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If possible (?) NY Times keep posting this article please! Or at least bring this up again and again and again! Trump’s hypocrisy will hopefully open peoples eyes to this despots big con!
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If everything we already know about Trump hasn't diminished support by his cult, this news certainly won't.
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Not happy with Trump and company? Voting is how we change things. Get out and vote. Don't mourn, organize. Ask your friends, family, etc. Are you registered to vote? If no, please get on board. Show up at the polls. Your vote counts. And if you don't vote, then don't complain when an incompetent, petulant hateful, egotistical frightening idiot like Trump gets elected.
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There is no surprise here because Trump is a known racist lying hypocrite. His order for banning 'chain migration' was meant for non-European ethnicity whites and non-whites just like his Muslim ban.
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Melania Trump entered with the Einstein Program ... that pretty much says it all
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