Democratic strategist Don Calloway said on Friday that it is hypocritical for the Trump administration call for the replacement of “chain migration,” but to grant citizenship to first lady Melania Trump’s parents through the practice.
“It is the height of hypocrisy to recognize that they did this to help facilitate their process through this subjective administration, and to deny that to the hundreds of thousands of other people who want to bring their value to this country,” Calloway told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising.”
“I welcome Melania’s parents because I welcome all the strangers as a God-fearing, liberal Christian. That’s what I’m told to do, is welcome the stranger and the immigrant,” he said.
“I welcome [them] via chain migration. I welcome anyone who wants to come to this country if you have something to add. And I imagine that they went through the proper process, and Melania’s parents were deemed to have added value, and not present a danger to this country,” he continued.
Michael Wildes, the attorney for the first lady’s parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs, said on Thursday that their daughter sponsored them for a green card and that they applied for citizenship once they were eligible.
The Knavs and the first lady hail from Slovenia.
When asked whether the first lady’s parents were granted citizenship through chain migration, Wildes said, “I suppose. It’s a dirty — a dirtier word.”
President Trump has slammed what he calls chain migration, and has proposed reforms that would only allow people to use family-based immigration to bring children or a spouse to the country.
— Julia Manchester
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