Melania Trump released a letter Wednesday from an immigration attorney that provided more detail on what she said was her legal pathway to U.S. citizenship. But the Slovenian-born wife of the GOP presidential nominee did not publish any part of her immigration file— official documents that would put to rest questions about whether she followed immigration law.
The two-page letter from New York attorney Michael J. Wildes, who has represented Donald Trump’s companies, also advanced an alternate timeline for a nude photo shoot that had been cited in news reports as possible evidence of Mrs. Trump working as a model in New York City without authorization. At issue is whether the photo shoot occurred in 1995— before Mrs. Trump has said she began legally working in the U.S. — or in 1996, as Mrs. Trump and Wildes assert.
The letter, posted on Mrs. Trump’s Twitter account, marks the first time that she has publicly identified the type of visas she held and gave specifics about her entry into the U.S. Mrs. Trump has often said she came to the U.S. legally and used her story to defend Donald Trump’s hard line on illegal immigration, an issue that he has made a signature part of his campaign.
In the letter from Wildes, it’s unclear whether Mrs. Trump provided him access to her full immigration file during his review. Wildes wrote that he had reviewed a series of news reports and “documents regarding the U.S. immigration history of Mrs. Melania Trump.” But the letter did not indicate which documents.
Wednesday night Wildes said in an interview with MSNBC that he did review Mrs. Trump’s entire immigration file.
“Not only did I see the stamps, I wanted to see all approval notices,” Wildes said of stamps in Mrs. Trump’s passport and documents detailing approval of her visas.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not immediately respond to detailed questions from The Associated Press about the review and whether Mrs. Trump planned to release her immigration file for public examination. The immigration file is one of several documents that the Trumps have refused to make public including Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Wildes said he did not anticipate that Mrs. Trump would release her immigration files, saying “there’s no issue here.”
“If there was an issue here, I don’t know that I would be here in all honesty,” said Wildes, who described himself as a Democrat and a Hillary Clinton supporter.
In his letter, Wildes dismissed news reports that Mrs. Trump had been professionally photographed posing nude in New York City in 1995. He said Wednesday night that the photos were taken in 1996, after Mrs. Trump had a legal work visa.
Last month, the New York Post published the photos along with an article saying they were taken during a two-day photo shoot in Manhattan in 1995. The Post reported that the photos were then published in the January 1996 issue of the French magazine Max. But Wildes said that then-Melania Knauss was not in the country in 1995.
“The allegation that she participated in a photo shoot in 1995 is not only untrue, it is impossible,” Wildes wrote. He said he interviewed Mrs. Trump and “we ascertained that the photo shoot in question did not occur until after she was admitted to the United States in H-1B visa status in October 1996.” The letter does not give more detail on when Mrs. Trump said the photo shoot occurred.
Wildes wrote that Mrs. Trump first entered the U.S. on Aug. 27, 1996, using a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. About two months later, on Oct. 18, 1996, Wildes said the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia issued Mrs. Trump her first worker visa, an H-1B visa, which she used to work as a model. Wildes said she was issued five such visas between October 1996 and 2001, at which point she became a lawful permanent resident. Wildes said he did not represent Mrs. Trump during the process.
Wildes wrote that Mrs. Trump did not receive her green card through marriage. Instead, she applied in 2000 by self-sponsoring herself as a model of “extraordinary ability,” he said. She received her green card on March 19, 2001, and became eligible for citizenship in 2006, the year Mrs. Trump has said she became a citizen.
Simon Rosenberg, an immigration policy analyst who supports Hillary Clinton, said he’s skeptical about Mrs. Trump’s ability to qualify for self-sponsorship as described in Wildes’ letter. Rosenberg, the president of NDN/New Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said, “The letter resolves nothing.”
“If they have all the documents, then release them. It is the only way we can answer the fundamental question here which is whether Melania Trump followed immigration law,” he said.
William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Wildes’ description of Mrs. Trump’s immigration history “is consistent with immigration law, as I know it,” though he noted the date of the photo shoot is an outstanding question.
The qualification to self-sponsor to receive a green card is that a person must show extraordinary ability and national or international renown. Stock said an immigrant seeking this type of green card “can be extraordinary in anything,” including modeling, and that the strength of a person’s reputation can be part of that proof.
Stock said Mrs. Trump or any other immigrant in the same situation would have been measured by the standards in their chosen field.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Your kidding me. A country’s going to hell and there concerned about work dates…. Lolololo
Come on America…which spouse would you prefer in the White House: Bill Clinton or Melania Trump? Come on, folks!
Easy choice a gorgeous, intelligent, well educated, classy Melania who also has her own business and does not take bribes nor lies. WOW! What not to like when her picture is taken with foreign government presidents with beautiful wives.
Of couse none of them is perfect but I would prefer Bill Clinton because he has a lot to offer the citizens of this country..
Dear Melania who’s a trophy wife cannot speak properly and posed naked for the world to see…where is the role model for our young girls? Melania Trump has nothing to offer this country..
Are you for real??????? You’d rather have a rapist, pedophile, sex maniac over a woman that speaks 5, countem’, 5 languages, is classy, not to mention very buiness savy??? You must be dreaming… Somebody, please wake up this nut job!!!!!!!
well it damn sure is not Slick Willy bill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you forgotten the young girl Bill had under his desk. He is a really good role model. So is Hillery with all the lies she tells. Bill has a lot of young girls.
The Trumps will bring class back to the white house. The Clinton’s would just rob it blind again. Hillbillys that they are.
Yes., you are wright
Even if she did, so what, Obama is bring thousands illegals every Day. All of the Media is corrupt. You can’t believe anything any more .
Look at the trash they have invited into the White House. I don’t believe there is a disinfectant strong enough to get the stench out. There will have to be a hasmat team working night and day for weeks before the Trumps could move in. It makes one wonder if the obama’s will be worse thieves than the clintons.
What is the big deal? Just look who is out there desperately trying to dig up dirt that is not there…..Where are all the unanswered questions about our illustrious president, and his tarnished secty of state……These people who dig around in other people’s back yards should dig around in their own and clean up their own messes……no wonder the country is overly nauseus the lib press…..time to drain the swamp.
I probably will be interested y in your report if you can dig in deeper on Obama’s immigration file, when he entered from Kenya, what airline and date of flight, his social security numbers and how many ss#s does he has, where was his mother during her pregnancy and the dates covering the 9 month period,, when did she entered the US and the airline as shown in the manifest.. I hope your diligent research will be applied here too if you are really concern on this country.country.
Too funny!
Right on roger , but so sad our country is so corrupt, especially our newspaper the are disgusting bias . Liz
JUST- A beat up old T/SGT
Question . What is so imperative that H, Rotton gets to be president ? =Is it a possibility that
this would put Dashing Bill back into the drivers seat. Think about it people ! Would this just be enough to make Americans think again ! It’s very hard for me to believe that average Americans can be so outrougesly DUMB.!!!! Are there any patriotic Americans left?
very few.
So she comes in on a tourist visa in August 1996. These last for a few months (3 or 6). Less than 2 months later – while the tourist visa is still valid – she gets a work visa. She must have started on that process soon after emptying her suitcase. Most people reading this are American and therefore unaware of the difficulty of qualifying for a work visa (and forget about the rhetoric and things said on the campaign trail – if you’ve not tried to get a work permit/visa in another country you shouldn’t believe all you hear). Professionally qualified people can be refused a visa if there are Americans available who can do the job – this is only fair of course. So dear Melania, who at that time hardly anyone has ever heard of, gets her kit off for a photo shoot and this qualifies her to be able to do a job that no American can? America has nobody who aspires to be a model? Gimme a break!
Melanie like many others who came in at that time will do any thing for money and a green card. So what? But she should not stand on high moral ground. It is obvious she committed fraud in getting green card. But zip will not hold it against her. The problem is Trump the maniac who will do,any thing to,win POTUS and ruin the country I no time. I do not mind if Bill Clinton is deaf to President. He will not decimate USA like Trump can!
Maybe they didn’t do enough damage or take enough stuff the first time around. The second time around will be your freedoms. Lying Hellery will say and do anything to grt elected.
In politics,there is no need to throw stones that will come back hitting your windows.Tking..
They are all for allowing millions amnesty, open borders, allowing felons to stay in sanctuary cities and they are concerned over one gig, twenty years ago? This is incredulous!