First lady Melania Trump's parents were sworn in as US citizens on Thursday.

Their immigration lawyer said Thursday that Amalija and Viktor Knavs used family sponsorship to obtain their green cards — a process that President Donald Trump calls "chain migration" and vowed to end.

The lawyer, Michael Wildes, told reporters that the Knavs wanted to thank people for their "attention to this dialogue that we're having on immigration."



First lady Melania Trump's parents, Amalija and Viktor Knavs, were sworn in as US citizens in New York City on Thursday.

Their immigration lawyer, Michael Wildes, told reporters outside a Manhattan federal building that the couple's citizenship application process was "no different than anybody else's," apart from the security arrangements.

The Knavses, originally from Slovenia, had been living in the US on green cards.

Wildes on Thursday also acknowledged the ongoing national debate over immigration, which sparked public outcry after the Trump administration implemented a "zero tolerance" policy at the border, resulting in thousands of immigrant children being separated from their parents.

"This golden experiment — these doors that are in America — remain hinged open to beautiful people as they have today," Wildes said. "They would appreciate their privacy, and we just thank everybody for their attention to this very important dialogue that we're having on immigration. This is an example of it going right."

How did they become citizens?

Amalija Knavs and Viktor Knavs, parents of first lady Melania Trump, disembark from Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., , Friday, March 17, 2017. Associated Press/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The Knavses' immigration process has prompted its own scrutiny in recent months, as immigration experts speculated that they likely used family-based sponsorship, which President Donald Trump calls "chain migration" and has vowed to end.

Wildes confirmed to The New York Times on Thursday that the first lady had sponsored her parents for green cards, and that the Knavs applied for citizenship once they were eligible. Green card holders must typically wait five years before being eligible for citizenship.

When asked if the Knavs used "chain migration," Wildes told The Times he supposed they had.

"It's a dirty — a dirtier word," he said. "It stands for a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification."

The first lady's spokeswoman declined to comment on Thursday, saying the Knavs were not part of the Trump administration.

Through family-based immigration, US citizens may sponsor their spouses, children, siblings, and parents for green cards, which can eventually lead to citizenship.

It's by far the most common method of immigration, making up 68% of the total green cards handed out in 2016, the most recent year for which Homeland Security data is available.

But hardline conservatives have assailed this process, demanding Congress eliminate the ability for US citizens to sponsor their adult children, siblings, and parents.

The White House's website even argues that chain migration "undermines national security" and "de-skills the labor force" because it fails to take people's merit into account during the immigration process.

"Instead, familial relations are all that is required to obtain a green card and, in turn, become a voting US Citizen within a short period of time, with access to Federal welfare and government benefits," a statement says.

Melania Trump has been a US citizen since 2006. During the 2016 US presidential campaign, she told media outlets that she sponsored herself for a green card in 2001 after working in the US on a visa in the mid-1990s.