Viktor and Amalija Knavs, both in their 70s, took the oath of citizenship in a private ceremony in New York City. The Slovenian immigrants, he a former car dealer and she a textile factory worker, were living in the United States as permanent residents.
The Knavses entered and exited through a side entrance to a Manhattan federal building flanked by Department of Homeland Security police officers. Some workers inside did not know what was happening. The couple said little, other than Viktor telling a reporter "thank you" when asked how they felt about becoming Americans.
The Knavses' lawyer said they had "had a wonderful trip."
Attorney Michael Wildes said the Knavses applied for citizenship on their own and received no special treatment. He confirmed that Melania Trump sponsored her green cards. Her husband, President Donald Trump, has proposed eliminating most family-based immigration, which he refers to as "chain migration."
"This golden experiment, these doors that are in the United States, are still open for beautiful people as they have been today," Wildes said after the ceremony.
Amid bitter debate over immigration, particularly the separation of children from families who cross the border illegally, ordered by the Trump administration, Wildes said the Knavses' obtaining citizenship was "an example of [the process) was going well".
Melania Trump, who has been vacationing with her husband in Bedminster, New Jersey, did not accompany her parents.
Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, declined to comment. She said the first lady's parents "are not part of the administration and deserve privacy."
In addition to attacking illegal immigration, President Donald Trump has proposed drastically reducing legal immigration.
The Republican president has proposed replacing most family-based immigration with a skills-based system after an attempted bombing by a Bangladeshi immigrant in New York last December. He also called for the elimination of a visa lottery program for people from underrepresented countries in the US.
The plan, which Trump reiterated last week at a meeting in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, would limit immigrants like his wife to sponsoring only their spouses and minor children to join them in the US, not their parents. , adult children or siblings.
