On Thursday, Melania Trump’s parents became US citizens. In a private ceremony in New York City, the Slovenian-born immigrants were granted citizenship. However, the way in which Viktor and Amalija Knavs became US citizens has caused quite a stir throughout the nation.

Melania’s parents have been living in the US as permanent residents with green cards, which the First Lady herself sponsored. This has allowed both of them to live and work in the US, and eventually become US citizens. 

This is a legal and legitimate process. 

However, people have observed the irony of the Knavs’ situation. Their very son-in-law, President Trump, has opposed this type of family visa, calling it “Chain migration.”

In fact, last November, the President tweeted (@realDonaldTrump), “CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE.”

In his video, accompanying this tweet, Trump continued by saying, “We’ll be asking Congress to start working on it immediately. There are bills already about ending chain migration, and we have a lot of good bills in there.”

To find out whether Melania’s parents did in fact become US citizens via chain migration, media outlets asked Knavs’ immigration lawyer, Michael Wildes, whether this was the case. 

In response, Wildes said, “I believe strongly in the principles of family reunification, which is the bedrock of immigration policy and law and has brought millions of people happily to our shores…I can’t comment on the President’s politics when it comes to my clients but I have stood up against the President’s immigration policies personally”