Nancy Pelosi Shaded Trump On Immigration With A Comment Aimed At Melania
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) just sent some more shade toward President Donald Trump. This time, she targeted his new merit-based immigration program, using his wife, first lady Melania Trump, to make her point. Nancy Pelosi's comments about immigration and Melania Trump are so sassy, though — and I can't.
According to The Huffington Post, Pelosi slammed the immigration plan on Wednesday, May 29, while speaking at a Commonwealth Club of California event in San Francisco. In a nutshell, the plan would favor highly skilled migrants over migrants with family living in the United States — which Pelosi said at the event is meant to “make America white again.” The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Pelosi's criticism.
She went on to question if Melania Trump's family, who immigrated from Slovenia, would have been allowed into the United States under it. “I don’t know if merit counted for when his wife’s family came into the country,” she said of the president. “I don’t know. Maybe it did. God bless them if it did. But he calls that ‘chain migration,’ which he wants to get rid of.” The White House did not immediately return Elite Daily's request for comment on the plan and Pelosi's criticism.
Pelosi continued:
Should we attach a green card to the diploma of so many scientists and engineers and all the rest and graduate students who train in the U.S. so that they can stay here? Of course. But that’s not the point. The point is that the president does not share the view of even Ronald Reagan and two Bushes in recent history.
Yikes. She didn't hold back, did she? And she may have a point. In August 2018, Melania's parents became American citizens after living in the United States on green cards sponsored by their daughter. The lawyer for Melania's parents, Michael Wildes, told The New York Times at the time that the pair used family-based immigration to obtain citizenship — a system the president has called "chain migration" and repeatedly tried to repeal, saying it is harmful to the United States. The Washington Post reports that without the family-based immigration system, in which American citizens can sponsor close relatives for green cards, her parents would have struggled to become official citizens. Elite Daily reached out to representatives for Melania for comment on the matter, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
If Trump had it his way, most categories of family-based immigration would be done. His new merit-based immigration plan, per CNN, would give out green cards through a point system that includes factors such as levels of education, fluency in English, and professional skills.
When announcing the merit-based plan on May 16, Trump said that it would put Americans first. "If adopted, our plan will transform America’s immigration system into the pride of our nation and the envy of the modern world," he said while speaking at the Rose Garden. "Our proposal builds upon our nation’s rich history of immigration, while strengthening the bonds of citizenship that bind us together as a national family."
He continued:
We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages, and safety of American workers first. Our proposal is pro-American, pro-immigrant, and pro-worker. It’s just common sense. It will help all of our people, including millions of devoted immigrants, to achieve the American Dream.
It's worth pointing out, though, (if Pelosi's comments weren't obvious enough) the plan seems to have a small chance of passing Congress. “If it doesn’t get bipartisan support, there’s no chance,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, per The Huffington Post. “But we’ll work to get bipartisan support.”
I have a feeling that has Pelosi somewhere smiling.
