First Lady Melania Trump’s parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs took the oath to become U.S. citizens on Thursday but NBC Nightly News was not having it. The broadcast network speculated that they received special treatment in the process and possibly used chain migration, a program the President opposes, even though the process still exists and still legal.
“Now to new questions tonight about a possible double standard when it comes to the first family,” declared a seemingly offended Lester Holt. “First lady Melania Trump's parents becoming brand new U.S. citizens today apparently through a process that President Trump has repeatedly railed against and has said he wants to end.”
The report was delivered NBC’s often resentful White House correspondent Peter Alexander, who noted the First Lady’s parents were “Slovenia immigrants taking the oath in New York City.” “Their experience reigniting questions whether they obtained citizenship through chain migration, a family unification process President Trump’s repeatedly denounced,” he announced with great sarcasm.
Alexander appeared skeptical of their lawyer’s insistence that they did not receive any special treatment by the government. “Asked if Knavses used chain migration, the lawyer told The New York Times, ‘I suppose it's a dirty-- dirtier word,’” he added.
And as if he broke a big scoop in the case, Alexander reported that “the First Lady's parents are familiar faces at the White House. Mrs. Trump missing today's private ceremony, although she reportedly sponsored her parents' visa applications after she became a citizen in 2006.”
Of course, NBC couldn’t let a good opportunity go to waste and decided to tack on an update on Trump’s immigration policy. “All of it comes just days after NBC News was first to report the Trump administration is considering a crackdown on legal immigration,” Alexander gloated. The administration’s proposal would make it more difficult for people to obtain citizenship or green cards if they received some sorts of public assistance.
In sharp contrast, CBS Evening News was congratulatory to the First Lady’s parents. “Melania Trump's parents became U.S. citizen today! Viktor and Amalija Knavs, natives of Slovenia took the oath at a ceremony in New York City. They had been living in the U.S permanent residents,” reported anchor Jeff Glor.
Not only was CBS welcoming to the Knavses but they completely separated them from their story on Trump’s immigration policy. They kicked off the broadcast by reporting on a federal judge who blocked the administration from deporting asylum seekers who were already in the judicial process. The news brief on Melania’s parents was the second-to-last story they covered that evening.
NBC’s eagerness to go chide the First Lady’s parents was a blatant double standard. When Obama was president, the liberal media were very reluctant to mention anything that had to do with his half-brothers and sisters.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
August 9, 2018
7:09:55 p.m. [2 minutes]LESTER HOLT: Now to new questions tonight about a possible double standard when it comes to the first family. First lady Melania Trump's parents becoming brand new U.S. citizens today apparently through a process that President Trump has repeatedly railed against and has said he wants to end. We get details now from NBC's Peter Alexander.
[Cuts to video]
PETER ALEXANDER: Tonight, the first in-laws Melania Trump's parents sworn in as American citizens. The Slovenia immigrants taking the oath in New York City. Their experience reigniting questions whether they obtained citizenship through chain migration, a family unification process President Trump’s repeatedly denounced.
DONALD TRUMP: We have to end chain migration, and we have to build the wall, we're going to build it.
ALEXANDER: Viktor and Amalija Knavs, until today legal permanent residents, declining to comment but their lawyer insisting they got no special treatment.
MICHAEL WILDES: The application, process, the interview was no different than anybody else's.
ALEXANDER: Asked if Knavses used chain migration, the lawyer told The New York Times, “I suppose it's a dirty-- dirtier word.” The First Lady's parents are familiar faces at the White House. Mrs. Trump missing today's private ceremony, although she reportedly sponsored her parents' visa applications after she became a citizen in 2006.
All of it comes just days after NBC News was first to report the Trump administration is considering a crackdown on legal immigration. A proposal that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards, if they or anyone in their household has ever used popular public assistance programs like ObamaCare or food stamps. A move that could impact 20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
[Cuts back to live]
ALEXANDER: Also tonight, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop deporting some immigrants seeking asylum to escape gang and domestic violence. The judge even othering a plane carrying a mother and daughter from El Salvador to turn around and bring them back here to the U.S. Lester.
HOLT: Alright, Peter Alexander covering the President in New Jersey. Thank you.
