The US president wants to restrict family reunification significantly. His own family, however, benefits from the scheme he wants to topple.
Americans with a migration background can catch up with their parents and siblings to the United States. Those already immigrated vouch for their relatives who can then live legally in the United States. "Chain migration" is what American President Donald Trump calls family reunification. He wants to change the regulation. Only spouses and underage children should be allowed to follow.
"The system of chain migration reduces the quality of the workforce, depresses wages, increases debt and undermines national security," the Trump government tweeted on the official channel of the White House.
Trump's own in-laws, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, have now been granted a permanent residence status in the US. This was announced by family lawyer Michael Wildes.
On what basis the parents of Melania Trump have been granted their residence status is unclear. In the opinion of migration experts, however, it can be assumed that they have benefited from regulating family reunification as parents of their daughter.
"This is the logical, preferred way, and possibly the only way to do it in these circumstances," said David Leopold, a Washington Post lawyer on immigration law.
According to the newspaper, the father of the First Lady, Viktor Knavs, has been registered since 2007 in Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private luxury estate. The Washington Post writes that the Knavs family is waiting for a naturalization date.
"In some ways, the legal permanent residency permit is the best visa of all," said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of law school at the University of California, Davis, the "New York Times." "It's the Cadillac of immigrant visas because it paves the way to citizenship."
But Trump has repeatedly denigrated this path of immigration. In his State of the Union address, he said, "In this broken system, a single immigrant can bring an almost unlimited number of distant relatives into the country." His reform was necessary, not only for the economy, but also for the security and future of the US.
Almost every US family is affected by immigration programs that Trump wants to end, "including his own," said MP Luis Gutierrez of the Democrats on the current case.
Source: dpa
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