As US President Donald Trump intensified his deportation efforts, a counter-movement gained traction online targeting his family.
A MoveOn.org petition titled “Deport Melania, Melania’s parents and Baron in the first round of deportations!” garnered nearly 3,000 signatures, demanding that US First Lady Melania Trump, her parents and her son Barron be deported.
“Since Trump wants to deport naturalized citizens, I believe it is only fair that Melania and her parents are on the first boat out,” the petition reads, adding, “Melania’s anchor baby, Baron, should be forced to leave as well because we know that his mother’s mother was born in a different country. That is part of the criteria that Trump is putting into place.
Your mother’s mother has to have been born in the United States and we know Melania’s mother was born elsewhere. If it’s good for one, it’s good for all! There should be no exceptions! On the first boat or flight out!”.
The petition’s authors argued that if Donald Trump is serious about national security and cracking down on immigration violations, his own family should not be exempt.
It continued, “It is important that this is done to show that it is not a matter of favoritism. If this is truly about national security, then Melania needs to go!”.
Melania Trump, born Melanija Knavs in Slovenia in 1970, moved to the United States in 1996 to pursue a modeling career. She received her green card in 2001 and became a US citizen in 2006- one year before marrying Donald Trump.
She is only the second US First Lady born outside the country and the first to become a naturalized citizen.
Reports have raised questions about whether she maintained a valid visa during her modeling years before receiving permanent residency. Earlier, Congresswoman Maxine Waters echoed similar sentiments at a rally in Los Angeles, saying, “We don’t know whether or not her parents were documented. And maybe we better just take a look. If he wants to start looking so closely to find those who were born here and their parents were undocumented, maybe he ought to first look at Melania.”