Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, invoked First Lady Melania Trump during a verbal attack against the White House’s most recent immigration proposal.
Pelosi made the accusation that the President Trump was somehow a hypocrite for wanting a merit-based immigration system.
“When the president says merit – turn it upside down. It means make America white again, have people leave, just go back and we’ll just let in people we like,” Pelosi said Wednesday while speaking at Commonwealth Club of California.
“I don’t know merit counted for when his wife’s family came into the country. I don’t know. Maybe it did. God bless them if it did. But he calls that chain migration, which he wants to get rid of — family unification, instead call it merit,” the California Democrat added. The comment by Pelosi was clearly about Melania’s parents, who became U.S. citizens after she sponsored them.
Melania’s parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, were originally from Slovenia before moving to their home in Maryland.
They officially became American citizens in August 2018 when they took their oath of citizenship at a ceremony in New York City.
Foreign nationals who become permanent residents or American citizens have the ability to sponsor their immediate relatives to join them in the U.S.
This is a process that is typically referred to “chain migration.” President Donald Trump, who has made immigration reform a hallmark of this administration, has constantly railed against the practice.
The president revealed his long-awaited immigration proposal earlier in May. A major part of the plan includes shifting the U.S. chain migration system to a more merit-based system.
The administration would have a high priority on high-skilled immigrants, offering more visas to those who are better educated, financially self-sufficient, younger and have job offers waiting for them in the country.
“Random selection is contrary to American values and blocks out many qualified potential immigrants from around the world,” Trump said as he announced his plan. “This will bring us in line with other countries and make us globally competitive.”
Credit: Daily Caller
