Amalija Knavs and Viktor Knavs, parents of first lady Melania Trump, arrive at the White House on June 11, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

The White House has been very clear from day one that it doesn’t care for immigrants unless the immigrants are from Slovenia and they are the parents of your wife; then the White House doesn’t want to talk about immigration status or “chain migration”—the inflammatory term the White House uses to note how immigrants supposedly bring family members into the country.




The Washington Post did a deep dive into the immigration status of Melania Trump’s parents, who are in the United States helping to care for the Trumps’ 11-year-old son, Barron.

When the newspaper contacted the White House to ask directly about Viktor and Amalija Knavs’ status, Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s spokeswoman, told them, “I don’t comment on her parents, as they live private lives and are not part of the administration.”


That’s funny, since the White House loves not only blasting everyone else’s immigration status but also breaking up the homes of those who they believe shouldn’t be here.

According to reports, it looks as if the Knavses have been in the United States for a year and have stayed in all the Trump spots—including the White House; Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.; Trump Tower in New York City; and Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.—caring for little Barron.

The Post analysis found that there could be several legal ways in which the Knavses are in the United States, including a tourist visa or a visa given to the parents of a U.S. citizen—a program that the Trump administration wants to end.

Also, and it is far-fetched, but the retired textile factory worker and her former Yugoslav Communist Party-member husband could be in the country on student visas.


The Post notes that when asked about all of the options that could have the Knavses in the country legally, Grisham answered, “None of those options apply.”

What’s troubling about this is that if the parents of Melania Trump are here on a legal visa, then why won’t the Trump administration just say that? It would clear up speculation that the Knavses used their son-in-law’s executive privilege to usurp the system, as he’s been known to do. Not only would clarification as to their status be helpful, but it would also seem like the right thing to do given that this administration drew a hard line in the sand over immigration and then built a wall around the line and didn’t get Mexico to pay for it.


According to the New York Daily News, while speculation surrounds the president’s in-laws, he continues to ramp up his war on immigrants:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced just this week that they made 40% more arrests in general within President Trump’s first year compared to 2016. ICE claims to have taken 37,734 “non-criminal” immigrants — people who don’t have criminal records or those who might face charges — into custody. That number is more than double the amount of non-criminal arrests made in 2016.


But this is Donald Trump we’re talking about, so would it surprise any of us if we were to find out one day that Trump sent a Russian spy jet to pick up his in-laws and bring them to the United States? Nope. The saddest part is that Trump can’t understand that these tough immigration laws are breaking up families because his family isn’t affected, and as long as his family is OK, then who cares.