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U.S. NEWS Friday 10 august 2018
Meet the newest U.S. citizens:

Melania Trump's parents

By MICHAEL R. SISAK ship was "an example of it workers in offices adorned
NEW YORK (AP) — First lady going right." with President Trump's por-
Melania Trump's parents Melania Trump, who has trait said they were un-
were sworn in as U.S. citi- been vacationing with her aware of anyone being
zens Thursday. husband in Bedminster, sworn in there on Thursday.
Viktor and Amalija Knavs, New Jersey, did not ac- New citizens are normally
both in their 70s, took the company her parents. minted on Fridays, they
citizenship oath at a spe- Her spokeswoman, Stepha- said, and often the cere-
cial, private ceremony in nie Grisham, declined to monies are held at the fed-
New York City. The Slove- comment. She said the first eral courthouse across the Viktor and Amalija Knavs listen as their attorney makes a
nian immigrants, a former lady's parents "are not part street. statement in New York, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018.
car dealer and textile fac- of the administration and The Knavses raised Me- Associated Press
tory worker, had been liv- deserve privacy." lania, born Melanija, in
ing in the U.S. as perma- President Donald Trump the rural industrial town of 1996 and met Trump two Knavses were complet-
nent residents. in January proposed end- Sevnica while Slovenia was years later. They married in ing the ceremony, he was
The Knavses slipped in and ing most family-based im- under Communist rule. 2005. tweeting his rage about the
out of a side entrance at a migration and replacing it She attended high school Viktor Knavs is 74, two years ongoing Russia probe ("an
Manhattan federal build- with a skills-based system. in the Slovenian capital, Lju- older than his son-in-law. illegally brought Rigged
ing flanked by Department The Republican president bljana, and changed her Amalija is 73. Witch Hunt") and his ex-
of Homeland Security po- also called for eliminating name to Melania Knauss Trump hasn't commented citement about plans for
lice. They said little other a visa lottery program for when she started model- or tweeted about his in- a sixth branch of the mili-
than Viktor telling a report- people from countries un- ing. laws' newfound citizenship. tary ("Space Force all the
er "thank you" when she der-represented in the U.S. She settled in New York in Around the same time the way!").q
asked how they felt about Trump's plan, which Con-
becoming Americans. gress has resisted, would
The couple's lawyer said limit immigrants like his wife
they had "travailed a won- to sponsoring only their
derful journey." spouses and underage
Lawyer Michael Wildes children to join them in the
said the Knavses applied U.S., not their parents, adult
for citizenship on their own children or siblings.
and didn't get any special Experts estimate those
treatment. He wouldn't say measures would cut legal
who sponsored their green immigration into the U.S.
cards. nearly in half.
"This golden experiment, Wildes wouldn't say how
these doors that are in long the Knavses have
America, remain hinged lived in the U.S. Under the
open to beautiful people law, permanent residents
as they have today," Wildes must live in the country for
said. at least five years before
Amid a bitter debate over applying for citizenship.
immigration — particularly The Knavses' citizenship
the Trump administration's ceremony was kept hush-
separation of children from hush at the Jacob K. Javits
families crossing the border Federal Building. Security
illegally — Wildes said the guards and U.S. Citizenship
Knavses' attaining citizen- and Immigration Services

More than 700,000 foreigners

overstayed visas last year

By ELLIOT SPAGAT nual figures underscore
Associated Press how visa overstays are a
SAN DIEGO (AP) — More big driver of illegal immi-
than 700,000 foreigners gration. An estimated 40
who were supposed to percent of the roughly 11
leave the United States million people in the coun-
during a recent 12-month try illegally stayed past their
period overstayed their vi- visas.
sas, the Homeland Security There were 701,900 visa
Department said Tuesday. overstays from October
President Donald Trump 2016 through September
has focused border secu- 2017 among visitors who
rity efforts on erecting a arrived by plane or ship —
multibillion-dollar wall with more than the population
Mexico. But the latest an- of Vermont or Wyoming.q