One of the main victims of Trump’s immigration actions could be his own wife, Melania Trump. The first lady of the United States could be deported because she reportedly failed to disclose earnings from nearly two months of illegal work in the U.S. on a visitor’s visa, and subsequently failed to mention the offense on immigration documents, the Independent wrote.
Melania Trump would have been a deportation priority if Trump had been president in the ’90s https://t.co/VhSEsc8bNH pic.twitter.com/wXdYYGabqE
— Insider Business (@BusinessInsider) February 25, 2017
The president’s administration asks the Supreme Court to revoke the citizenship of people who lied about misdemeanors at the time of their naturalization, something that would put Melania in danger of deportation.
The publication claims that under the argument that an “immaterial” error in the official documentation may justify deportation, it would be a sufficient reason to deport the Republican’s wife and supposedly could be the same fate as millions of undocumented immigrants who are repatriated. The report adds that the first lady did not report the gains of nearly two months of illegal labor in the United States with a tourist visa and subsequently did not mention it in immigration documents, according to the Associated Press .
A report from Slate states that a lawyer representing Melania attested that he had reviewed her immigration documents and found no evidence that she had ever violated U.S. law. Later that year, however, the Associated Press uncovered records showing that she had, in fact, done paid modeling work for several weeks while she was staying in the U.S. in 1996 on a visitor visa, which would have been a violation of that visa’s terms.
Melania’s cases is not unique; another example is a Serbian woman named Divna Maslenjak, who falsely stated that her husband had not been a member of the Bosnian Army in the 1990s. As a result, Maslenjak, who is of Serbian origin, was deported and stripped of her citizenship last year. USA Today reports that Maslenjak lied when applying for refugee status in the United States during the 1990s, both about her husband’s service in a Bosnian militia unit implicated in war crimes and other matters. She was convicted, sentenced to two years’ probation, and had her naturalization revoked, a conviction upheld by a federal appeals court. She was deported in October while her case was still pending. The Donald Trump administration expects the Supreme Court to prosecute Maslenjak for lying on her statement and to definitively deny U.S. citizenship.
Melania Trump would have possibly been deported under immigration ban: https://t.co/JAoEBnYMaw pic.twitter.com/pWRMecgMij
— Complex (@Complex) February 24, 2017
This case would set a precedent for immigrants who lied when applying for their citizenship, including Melania Trump. The first lady of the United States came to the country with a tourist visa because she was denied a work visa. Despite this, Melania served as a model for seven months with a tourist visa, according to the Associated Press .
This violates the terms of the tourist visa, as Melania earned more than $20,000 before receiving legal permission to work in the United States. While President Donald Trump’s government is asking the Supreme Court to revoke the citizenship of people who lied about misdemeanors at the time of their naturalization, First Lady Melania Trump could be one of his first victims.
Melania Trump could have been deported under the new rules of Trump’s immigration order https://t.co/g95hHOx0us pic.twitter.com/22Zu8rtTVF
— Intl. Business Times (@IBTimes) February 28, 2017
Melania could still be deported even though she went on to obtain an H-1B work visa on October 18, 1996, become a legal permanent resident in 2001, and become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006 before marrying Donald Trump in 2005.
Currently, the Supreme Court is studying the case of Divna Maslenjak, who was deported and stripped of her citizenship last year. The Trump administration asserts that the mere fact that the woman made a false statement affected in some way the decision to grant her political asylum. The court is expected to decide by the end of June on the unprecedented case.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
