Ouisa Davis

El Paso Times

Many people are wondering why there is so much “liberal” outrage surrounding the immigration history of Melania Trump. The outrage stems from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s hypocrisy in his public stance regarding the national immigration debate.

Part of the problem is the lack of transparency of the Trump campaign machine regarding Melania Trump’s path to U.S. citizenship. The other problem revolves around the many “misstatements” proffered regarding her background and education.

She received a degree, she didn’t go to college; she worked with appropriate immigration authority, she went back and forth to her home nation to “get her visa stamped.” Anyone with any knowledge of immigration law smells rotting fish when hearing these contradictions.

Here are some realities. A foreign national must have permission (a visa) to come to the United States for any purpose. There are many purposes that form basically three types of status:

Non-immigrants are people who travel to the U.S. for a particular reason and for a particular period of time and do not intend to immigrate.

Immigrants are people who travel to the United States to live on a permanent basis (legal permanent residents).

Refugees are people who are fleeing natural disaster, civil war or persecution and are allowed to live in the United States for a period of time until they decide whether they want to live here permanently.

There are several types of non-immigrants: Those who come to study, those who come to work, and those who come to play.

A person cannot come to America on a study or visitor’s visa and work, unless authorized by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A non-immigrant worker can work only for the company that “sponsors” him or her. If the job ends, the worker must either find another employer within a short period of time, or return to his or her home country.

The types of non-immigrant employment visas vary and require certification to ensure that U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident workers are not displaced. Models, actors and artists have special qualifications and their own visa categories.

Status violations are nothing new. In fact, many students work without the authorization of the immigration authorities. Many people stay longer than authorized.

A non-immigrant may, in certain cases, decide to live in the USA permanently and convert his or her status.

Depending upon how people came here, there are many routes to immigrate: They can become one of millions of permanent resident workers; they may choose to marry a citizen or permanent resident; they may qualify as business generators or entrepreneurs. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

Perhaps Melania Trump came to the United States under valid status as a model; perhaps she came as a visitor and worked as a model without permission. These are simple questions and should be pretty easy to answer.

The problem is that there is no clarity as to what her status actually was; and no answers are forthcoming.

Either she was or she wasn’t in valid status throughout her stay in America and during the time she moved toward legal permanent residency, eventually becoming a citizen.

The hypocrisy arises when a presidential candidate excoriates immigrants, documented and undocumented, and all along, he might have an immigration violator in his own woodpile — and one who is a potential first lady.

Indeed, if Melania Trump endured the struggle to maintain valid immigration status, the story would resonate in the hearts of many.

Instead, we hear nothing. The story is buried.

Tell your story, Melania. Release your immigration records. The people in the shadows need to hear of your successful immigration journey.

Ouisa D. Davis is an attorney at law in El Paso, where this column first appeared in the El Paso Times.

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