February 14, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House is refusing to say the immigration status of first lady Melania Trump's parents.
The Washington Post reported that the first lady's spokeswoman initially declined to comment about the matter.
February 14, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House is refusing to say the immigration status of first lady Melania Trump's parents.
The Washington Post reported that the first lady's spokeswoman initially declined to comment about the matter.
“I don’t comment on her parents, as they live private lives and are not part of the administration,” said Stephanie Grisham, spokeswoman for the first lady, according to the Post.
The Post listed a number of options, including that the first lady's parents are in the U.S. on IR-5 visas which means they are legal permanent residents — or they could be here on tourism visas and asked for extensions.
According to the Post, when it showed its list of possible options to Melania Trump's spokeswoman, she said: “None of those options apply.”
"As we noted, we gave Grisham, the first lady’s spokeswoman, ample opportunity to explain the immigration status of the Knavses," the Post wrote in its fact checker piece.
"It’s a mystery why the White House refuses to answer such a simple question, given the president’s high-profile demand to limit immigration."
Melania Trump's father, Viktor Knavs, is a former member of the Yugoslav Communist Party. Amilija Knavs, her mother, worked at a textile factory. According to the Post, the couple is now retired.
Previous reports have raised questions about Melania Trump's immigration story.
President Trump has made immigration a key part of his agenda.
He last year kicked the immigration fight to Congress when his administration announced it was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows certain immigrations brought into the country illegally as children to work and go to school without fear of deportation.
Courtesy/Source: The Hill
