The Catwalk to Citizenship
Regular readers know I believe most partisans actually care little about litmus-test issues as anything other than anti-opponent strategies, even as they convince themselves otherwise. I’m betting that a bit of breaking news about Melania Trump will back this belief up over the coming weeks.
Politico is reporting that the third Mrs. Donald came to this country illegally, and likely lied repeatedly about her work status when she was a young woman wanting to break into the modeling big leagues. If this is true (and it very much appears that it is at the moment), then it could possibly throw her current citizenship status into question. Even if it doesn’t, however, she will absolutely be a textbook case of the type of person described as needing to be run out of town on a rail by most of Trump’s supporters.
Despite this, I’m going to bet a round of top-shelf whiskey right now that this news will not hurt Trump at all with the hardcore anti-immigration crowd in the weeks to come. Further, I will bet that their opinion of her will remain unblemished, and if they respond to the news at all it will be to come to her defense.
Part of the reason for this might well be that when people who want illegal aliens deported think of illegal aliens, they don’t think of people who look like Melania Trump. But also there is this: The issue of illegal aliens is one they chose for the express purpose of beating up their enemies, and their desire to engage with it on any other level is nil.
[Image via Wiki Commons.]
This seems to be working both ways.
Those who otherwise congratulate themselves on their compassion are calling for Melania Trump to be deported. Those who consider “illegal immigrant” is a slur have no qualms about lobbing it at her.
I think Tod is absolutely 100% right that there isn’t a whole lot of principle behind these issues, but that lack of principle isn’t restricted to Trump supporters.Report
Yes, but it’s a weak comparison, since most of the lobbing “illegal” at her seem to be doing it ironically.
The point is still valid, I believe, because you can take a slew of other issues where this happens. Just think this particular one is stronger one way than two.Report
@vikram-bath — It seems an easy enough needle to thread. Simply state, “She should not be deported, but Trump is a hypocrite, cuz according to his standards, she should be. This reveals a contradiction in his position that does not exist in ours.”Report
Perhaps I am being a bit unfair in expecting the needle to be threaded on Twitter.Report
On twitter? You’re not being unfair, you’re just presumably stoned out of your head if you’re expecting anything reasoned from twitter.Report
Oh I expect all sorts of dumb things will happen on Twitter.
Here is a prediction: at least ten people on “the left” will say something profoundly stupid and unfair about this topic, and who will then be “discovered” by their political opponents and used as evidence that the “other side” is morally bankrupt.
Sure. That will happen. However, I bet nothing much actually happens to Melania Trump, because those “in power” realize this is a political clusterfuck and it’s better just left alone.
In other words, this will be the opposite of what happened with Obama’s birth certificate or Benghazi.Report
I strongly support your contention that a small number of people saying rotten things should not be taken as representative of an entire philosophy.Report
@densityduck :
I strongly support your contention that a small number of people saying rotten things should not be taken as representative of an entire philosophy.
I take that statement to be representative of an entire philosophy.Report
Saying is one thing. Doing is another.
And powerful people saying rotten things ought to be able to represent.Report
I believe the immigration activists who are saying she should be deported are coming out in favor of petard hoisting, not deportation. There are lots of gay people that made fun of congressman wide stance.Report
Tod,
If all illegal immigrants looked as hot as Melania, I doubt the male population of American would object to immigration at ALL.Report
Is this thread a competition to portray the motives of anti-immigration folks in the worst light possible? I’m trying to be fair and not jump to conclusions about motivations, help me out.Report
No idea. But I will say that I think the immigration debate would be vastly different if only hot foreign chicks wanted to immigrate to america.Report
Stay classy Damon. Stay classy….Report
Always.Report
Damon was the only person thinking anything like that. He makes me so ashamed sometimes.Report
All I know is, I have found myself in the midst of a torrid and doomed-to-failure Facebook fling with this stunningly beautiful, too-young-for-me-I’m-a-bad-person Canadian femme who wants to do cam work, so I find myself uncomfortably interested in Damon’s theory.
(She truly is way out of my league hot)
(Like OMFG)
Which title suits me better: “sugar mama” or “trans cougar-dyke of the apocalypse”?Report
Trans-cougar-dyke of the apocalypse sounds way more awesome.Report
I agree with Murali, but “of the apocalypse” just is wrong sounding to me.
“Trans-cougar-dyke of EVIL” isn’t bad. I’ve not had my coffee yet though.Report
Have your coffee and come back Damon. The “of the apocalypse” is what makes it awesome. Otherwise, just trans cougar dyke is kind of meh for a title.Report
apocalypse is just used too much. Kinda cliche. I was trying to work “sharks with frickin’ lazer beams” in to the name but …that doesn’t work either. In the words of Private Provo “it just doesn’t sing”.Report
I’ll admit it is a bit on the nose. I bet Tarantino could make it cool. (Sadly I’m not Tarantino.)
What about TRANSGENDER sharks with lazers on their heads!!!!Report
Cmon, it’s not like this is hard.
Trans-cougar-dyke of doom.Report
“TCDOD” Biatches!
Love it.Report
Welp, whatever we agree on, she’s properly my “girlfriend” now, so that’s a thing. I’ve changed my username accordingly.Report
Yeah, I meant a girl like that once. She was the daughter of the woman I was dating.
Jeebus frickin’ hell she was smoking hot. Running around in yoga pants in the house all day.Report
You could even argue that she should be eligible for an H1-B to help alleviate the shortage of people qualified to work as supermodels.Report
https://twitter.com/burtlikko/status/761226462221381633
(20-tweet rant by yours truly)Report
A high-quality one with which I agree!Report
Good thread, that.Report
I know you’re not an immigration lawyer, but can naturalized citizenship be revoked over something like this?
I am not proposing that this be the punishment, I am legitimately curious.Report
IANAL, but it says on the forms right there that, yes, it can be revoked if you ever provided inaccurate information to the USCIS.
And, frankly, that doesn’t seem all that unfair if the inaccurate information was intentional or the reason you got your visa or citizenship approved in the first place.
Edit: Nor is this sort of policy atypical in other realms. Most universities reserve the right to revoke your degree if they find you lied on your admissions application or committed academic dishonesty while a student.Report
@leesq might be able to weigh in on it. I believe that’s an area he has expertise in.Report
Vikram is basically right. Fraud and willful misrepresentation in applying for an immigration benefit can make someone inadmissible and removable if they are not citizens. If they got citizenship in part because of fraud or misrepresentation then the government can file a suit in district court to strip them of their citizenship. It also gets you barred from ever entering the US without first being granted a waiver.
I practice immigration law, but I’ve only had denaturalization threatened once, so it’s not an area I know a great deal about.Report
I’m an immigration lawyer and the answer is that it is complicated. It’s a lot harder to take away citizenship than a green card under the law so the government generally only tries to revoke citizenship for the most egregious things. What Melania did is technically illegal, working on a B-1, but very common. USCIS usually doesn’t make a big deal about it.Report
“It comes down to this: we should show her the same generosity or parsimony that we show to other, less fortunate immigrants.”
You mean, let her stay as long as she likes until she steals a gun and shoots someone with it, and then reluctantly put her on a bus to Tijuana?Report
Yes. And should she never steal a gun or shoot anyone — like the vastly overwhelming majority of immigrants — she can just go about her business.Report
It should make you wonder about the Latino immigrants who come here — how many have potential similar to Ms. Trump?
To start with, there’s Salma Hayek.Report
The jobs that Melania stole were…
ah, I’m not going to finish this joke.Report
Dear Jaybird: You got your sentence flipped a little there. I think what you meant to write was:
The stoles that Melania jobbed were ….Report
@francis wins the internet.Report
People have already been making that joke, mostly via “jobs Americans won’t do” and similar.Report
Certainly when I asked about the the lead paragraph of the Libertarian ticket’s statement on Twitter, the Trumpists were predictably quick to proclaim indignation at the idea that they would want their stated policy preferences put into action.
Personally, I’m glad she’s here and hope her story inspires others not to let visa issues get in the way of pursuing their dreams.Report
I’m too sexy for the ICE, too sexy for the ICE, so sexy I say thrice.Report
*claps* Well done!Report
But you only said it twice. Damn immigrants not learning proper English.Report
She’s on the catwalk, not o’er the ramparts we watched.Report
This should go to show what an absurd farce our immigration system is and that all opposition to immigration is either willful ignorance or thinly veiled racism. That will not be the takehome message however.Report
I hear she is a model citizen…Report
““Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.””
– Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin’s secret police
http://quozio.com/quote/50853188#!t=1015Report
I like the premise of the OP. I will have to pay more attention to that idea.Report
Despite this, I’m going to bet a round of top-shelf whiskey right now that this news will not hurt Trump at all with the hardcore anti-immigration crowd in the weeks to come. Further, I will bet that their opinion of her will remain unblemished, and if they respond to the news at all it will be to come to her defense.
Hmmm. I think I’ll have to take that bet. My guess is that that demographic, as described, will in fact shift against Trump. Problem is, acourse, determining the constituency in question as distinct from, say, incredibly pissed off undereducated racist white guys.Report
The number of Trump supporters who will give a rat’s ass about this is the same as the number of Trump supporters who could find Slovenia on a map.Report