Marjorie Taylor Greene Praises Melania Trump as Immigration Example

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene praised former First Lady Melania Trump for how she legally immigrated to the United States while discussing security at the United States-Mexico border.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on May 10, Greene addressed Republicans' latest border security bill. House Republicans are currently attempting to put together new border protection legislation as the topic has once again entered the national spotlight as the Trump-era Title 42 ends.

The 213-page bill resurrects a series of policies of former President Donald Trump. This includes such measures as building barriers along hundreds of miles of border country.

Title 42, the public health measure enacted by Donald Trump in March 2020, had previously allowed Border Patrol agents to rapidly expel migrants back over the southern border on the grounds of preventing the potential spread of COVID-19. It is now set to expire on May 11.

At the same time, regions along the border are seeing major surges in crossings, with agents in on Gulf Coast region reporting around 30,000 since mid-April.

"I would like to remind everyone that Republicans believe in legal immigration," Greene said on Wednesday. "As a matter of fact, we are very proud of our former first lady, Melania Trump, who immigrated legally to the United States. But there is a clear difference in policies when we talk about border and security for the United States of America.

"I think it is very important to remind my colleagues across the aisle what our oath of office actually says. We swear an oath that we will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

"That is a very important oath to swear and it is one to uphold but this is not being upheld in the past two years under this administration. We have seen nearly 5 million people cross our border and it is unsustainable," the Georgia representative said.

Newsweek reached out to Marjorie Taylor Greene via Facebook for comment.

While there has previously been speculation on whether Melania Trump came to the U.S. from Slovenia illegally, her representatives have sternly denied these claims.

Melania Trump's immigration story has been scrutinized due to her husband's tough stance on immigration as well as alleged inconsistency in her story.

Days before the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press reported that Melania Trump was paid more than $20,000 for 10 modeling jobs in the U.S. seven weeks before she obtained a work visa in October 1996. Melania Trump officially became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006.

In 2018, the first lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told Newsweek: "Mrs. Trump followed the law at all times and entered the country legally."

Greene continued to attack Democrats in her speech and said they don't support Americans, but rather migrants and foreign countries.

The House GOP bill is being voted on today and is unlikely to pass, however, due to the Senate being Democratic-led. President Joe Biden has also said he would veto a House GOP bill that aims to restrict asylum.