Thread: Melania Trump urged her husband to end the border separation policy

Melania Trump urged her husband to end the border separation policy



By Mary Jordan
June 20, 2018 at 2:07 PM



President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in the Oval Office on June 19. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)



Melania Trump urged her husband to stop the policy of separating children from their parents on the border, according to White House officials.


On Wednesday, under pressure from around the world and even his wife, Trump said he would sign an executive order to keep the migrant families together.
Melania Trump’s office told CNN over the weekend that she “hates to see children separated from their families” but said it was up to both political parties to develop an immigration solution. In the past couple of days, she has increasingly made clear to the president that he should use his power to fix the problem.


“She has become even more vocal about her thoughts and opinions on the topic,” a White House official said Wednesday.


Just before President Trump told reporters he would reverse course and seek to keep the families together in detention, a White House official said that “from the start Mrs. Trump has been encouraging the president to do all he can to keep families together.”


The Trump administration changed its story on immigrant family separation no fewer than eight times in one week. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)The first lady often comments about children being precious and vulnerable. But the White House was battling a huge image problem about how its border policy was hurting children. Photos of crying toddlers and what critics are calling “baby jails” — the social services centers holding children taken from their parents — drew criticism from Pope Francis, whom Melania Trump met last year.
Former first ladies ratcheted up the criticism, with Laura Bush calling the policy “cruel” and “immoral,” and Rosalynn Carter saying it is “a shame to our country.”
In the past 24 hours, Melania Trump’s own immigration lawyer began to join the chorus.


“It reminds us of past mistakes. It’s a big disappointment,” said Michael Wildes, the New York immigration lawyer who has represented Melania Trump on immigration issues. Born in Slovenia, she is now a U.S. citizen.


In an interview, Wildes said the family separation policy evoked the disgraceful internment of Japanese people living in the United States during World War II and the inhumanity of detention in Nazi Germany.


Wildes also represents Melania’s parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, and her sister Ines, also from Slovenia.


Melania Trump’s parents were granted legal permanent residency and are on the path to full U.S. citizenship, Wildes has said in the past. He declined to discuss the specifics of her sister’s immigration status.


Wildes issued a broader indictment of the White House approach to immigration, saying the tone and vocabulary of the Trump administration’s immigration policy run counter to the nation’s history and “moral compass.” He specifically criticized the president’s use of the term “chain migration” to describe the long-standing U.S. policy of allowing U.S. citizens to assist relatives overseas in obtaining legal residency.


“CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!” Trump tweeted in November.


Many immigration experts say that “chain migration” is the most likely way Melania Trump’s parents and sisters have been allowed to live in the United States and be with her.


Wildes said the use of the terms “anchor babies” and “chain migration” is an attempt “to try to change the narrative” and undermine the “beautiful notion of family reunification” — the idea that immigrants arrive, work hard to help bring their family members over and help “build up our economy and pay it forward to the next generation.”


Many people who voted for Trump specifically did so because he promised a tougher immigration policy. Those who support the family separation policy call it an effective deterrent to keeping people from attempting to illegally enter the country. And they note the big distinction between lawful migration, which Wildes said Melania Trump and her family followed, and illegal crossings.


The president has sought to deflect the blame for the family separation, particularly trying to pin it on Democrats for not passing an immigration bill. But many members of his own party are calling on him to stop it.


In one particularly emotional tweet, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said: “Can’t sleep tonight. I know I shouldn’t tweet. But I’m angry. And sad. I hate what we’ve become. My wife wants to go & hold babies & read to lonely/scared/sad kids.”




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Ivanka and Melania Trump are billionaires. They have no concept of what illegal immigration has done to small towns and cities. They have no idea of the transformations to neighborhoods, the increase in crime, the stolen lives and identities. They are privileged.

I suspected that she was behind his change in policy. But "keeping families together" at what cost? Catch and release is not the solution. Putting children in jail with their parents is not the solution. Building or setting up housing for illegal aliens/amnesty seekers is costly, time consuming, and not the solution.

The only solution is for illegal aliens not to cross the border so as to become illegal aliens!

The "solution" is to transport them back home!

Let their President house and feed them and place them with their relatives or foster care on THEIR soil!

Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach

Ivanka and Melania Trump are billionaires. They have no concept of what illegal immigration has done to small towns and cities. They have no idea of the transformations to neighborhoods, the increase in crime, the stolen lives and identities. They are privileged.

And they do not have illegal alien children in THEIR children's classrooms either!

How about we put all these children in their schools! Send them to Martha's Vineyard, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Palos Verdes and Hollywood schools!

They will change their tune so fast your head will spin!

Send them back!

Originally Posted by Beezer

The "solution" is to transport them back home!

No! The "solution" is to transport them to the border they came over, and leave it to them to make their way home.

Originally Posted by jtdc

No! The "solution" is to transport them to the border they came over, and leave it to them to make their way home.

Unfortunately a lot of them won't go home. They'll just find another border crossing area and try again.

Originally Posted by MW

Unfortunately a lot of them won't go home. They'll just find another border crossing area and try again.

There's no good way. Dropping them at the border saves us the cost of giving them a free ride home where they can immediately start their trek back if they have the money. If dropping them at the border uses up their money getting back home, or trying to exist until they try to cross again, that is a handicap to a quick return.

Originally Posted by jtdc

There's no good way. Dropping them at the border saves us the cost of giving them a free ride home where they can immediately start their trek back if they have the money. If dropping them at the border uses up their money getting back home, or trying to exist until they try to cross again, that is a handicap to a quick return.

Look, I would drop them at the border in an instant...but it will never fly. Load them up on buses, trains, barge and military transport. We have GOT to stop this in it's tracks as cost effectively as possible.

"OPERATION RETURN TO SENDER"