Trump’s Immigration Rules Could Have Barred His Wife, Mother-In-Law and Grandparents
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Trump and his fiancée Melania Knauss in April 2004.
Amalija Knavs is perhaps not a household name, but she is the mother of a household name: Melania Trump.
If Trump’s immigration policies had been in place, she might not have been allowed to enter the US.
Maybe that was his plan.
Amalija Knavs
In any event, Trump’s own grandparents may not have been eligible either.
At issue is the immigration policy idea of “chain immigration”, which merely means that family members can follow other family members who had already immigrated.
Trump’s grandfather, for example, Freidrich Trump, escaped a war-torn part of Germany to seek the safety and opportunity in America. The 16-year-old lad already had a sister in America, Katherine, who could help him out. This “chain immigration” got Freidrich into America.
Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, also immigrated to America. As an 18-year-old she had few skills that would have helped her with her Entry requirements, but she got in with the help of her sister. Chain immigration again.
They were both affected by the lenient immigration policies of Grover Cleveland, who became president in 1885. He vetoed an immigration bill that would have made it impossible to enter America if you were not literate. His reasoning was interesting:
“We have encouraged those coming from foreign countries to cast their lot with us and join in the development of our vast domain, securing in return a share in the blessings of American citizenship. A century's stupendous growth, largely due to the assimilation and thrift of millions of sturdy and patriotic adopted citizens, attests the success of this generous and free-handed policy which, while guarding the people's interests, exacts from our immigrants only physical and moral soundness and a willingness and ability to work.”
He declared that the threat to America came not from illiterate newcomers but from a demagogue who “delights in arousing by inflammatory speech the illiterate and peacefully inclined to discontent and tumult.”
It’s as if he could see into the future.
In fact, Trump has pushed against immigration, asking for new policies that would have excluded the ancestors of most Americans today, including his own family.
Which brings us back to Amalija Knavs.
She followed her daughter from Slovenia to the US on the back of the policy allowing citizens to bring minor children and parents to join them in the United States without having to wait a long time for a visa.
The policy that Trump wanted to shelve.
The records show that she was sponsored by an adult child for a green card, and it lists the financial sponsor of the parent as “Melania Trump.”
Melania Trump wanted her parents to be able to travel freely to the United States to care for her son with Donald, Barron.
She herself had immigrated to the US on the basis of an ‘Einstein visa’.
These are reserved for people of extraordinary ability, like scientists and doctors. The qualifier is to persuade the authorities that you are the best in your field.
Ironically, a test case recently determined that it would have been very hard for Albert Einstein himself to pass that requirement.
The EB-1 category is reserved for those who are highly acclaimed in their field - the government cites Pulitzer, Oscar, and Olympic winners – to pass easily into America.
The question for the authorities to answer in Melania’s case is whether American needs more foreign fashion models?
The case could certainly be made that the country needs qualified scientists and chemical engineers.
But Melania’s agent presented evidence to satisfy three out of 10 criteria, such as publishing material in professional publications or other major media, appearing in artistic exhibitions or commanding a high salary.
She came to the US in 1996, first on a tourist visa then later a string of working visas for skilled immigrants. She had worked as a runway model in Europe and featured to a limited extent in UK and US magazines. She appeared on the cover of British GQ on a fur rug in Trump's private jet, and in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated in the US. She was not a top international model.
Einstein visa material.
She began applying for the visa in 2000, when she was a Slovenian model working in New York and dating Donald Trump. She was approved in 2001, one of just five people from Slovenia to win the coveted visa that year.
Once that bar is crossed, the decision comes down to a subjective merits determination by the immigration agency.
Having a letter of recommendation from Donald Trump would certainly have been a strong stamp of approval.
Trump would now prefer to have a system that would replace the current family-based chain with one based on skill and educational level. He wants to get away from the model (as it were) that allows leverage from rich people like him to influence immigration decisions.
His proposal might have made it impossible for his father and mother-in-law to immigrate. It could also, conceivably, have left his future wife in the immigration line at the airport.
Perhaps he does not realize that these effects would occur – he has not ‘internalized’ his own policy recommendations.
This would not be odd, considering that many people think Trump is a scattered decision-maker who is only focused on himself. Certainly the people who would be most affected by his policies are very remote from his circle: the immigrants barred by the border fence, the “pause” on granting green cards, and limits to guest-worker immigration.
The benefits of immigration overall are clear to all of us who do not have names with First-Nation origins…i.e. the rest of us are all immigrants.
Immigrants provide the young workers that would otherwise be in very short supply in our economy.
They grow the population; in 2022, immigration accounted for 80% of the country’s meager 0.4% population growth. Without immigration, we will have a shortfall in Social Security funding by nearly 35 million workers by the 2030’s.
They bring in capital, for investment. Immigrants generate nearly $1 trillion in state, local, and federal taxes. This is some $300 billion more than they receive in government benefits, including cash assistance, entitlements, and public education.
They make an immediate impact on business formation: 43% of the top Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
Immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated work-force, and diverse skill-sets needed by modern economies.
In today’s “information world”, in fact, brainpower is the ultimate resource, and immigrants have that resource in abundance.
Of acute interest in today’s society, immigrants are needed to fill the job category facing the most need: home health aides. The number of employees able or willing to work in seniors care facilities has actually dropped recently - from 1.7 million to 1.4 million in the past four years – just as the requirements of our older population are growing. Nursing homes are shutting down across the country.
Maybe that “Einstein visa” person looks like a Filipino nurse. Or child care worker – also in demand.
Immigration policy is also more restrictive than our peers. The United States went from having the majority of the increase in the world immigrant population in the 1990s, to having less than 8 percent of it from 2015 to 2020. This happened for dual reasons: more immigrants went to other countries and fewer immigrants came to the United States.
The US now ranks 56th highest in the world - in the bottom third of wealthy countries. The gaps are huge. To catch up to Canada (21.4 percent), nearly 30 million immigrants would have to arrive this year.
This shows how much leeway the US has on its ability to change its immigration policy while remaining within normal practice its peers.
Immigrants can increase productivity, lower prices, fill employment categories, enhance innovation, and lower tax revenues.
They can also act as the parents and spouses of presidents.
Say what you will about Melania, when she married Trump she took one for the team.
Good for her! Welcome to America. No waiting.