Washington: Melania Trump has released a letter from her immigration attorney aimed at settling questions about whether she properly followed immigration law when she came to the US in 1996.
“I am pleased to enclose a letter from my immigration attorney which states that, with 100 per cent certainty, I correctly went through the legal process when arriving in the US,” Melania, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, tweeted on Wednesday, with a photo of the attorney’s letter attached.
“It has been suggested by various media outlets that in 1995, Melania Trump illegally worked as a model in the US while on a visitor visa. Following a review of her relevant immigration paperwork, I can unequivocally state that these allegations are not supported by the record, and are therefore completely without merit,” CNN quoted Melania’s lawyer, Michael J. Wildes as saying.
“Contrary to published reports, she never worked in the US in 1995 because she was never in the country in 1995,” Wildes wrote, citing immigration documents that demonstrate that Trump’s first entry to the country was in 1996.
The controversy over Trump’s immigration history began in August when the New York Post re-published photos from an old photoshoot she had done in the 1990s, which seemed to place her in New York City in 1995, despite her claims that she had arrived in 1996, CNN noted.
Critics questioned the timeline Melania had provided for her immigration history and whether she had obtained proper legal status.
–IANS