The visa that enabled the First Lady to live in the United States has come under scrutiny this week, as her husband, Donald Trump, pushes ahead with his controversial deportation agenda.
Over the past week alone, the right-wing former president has threatened to deport both a New York mayoral candidate originally from Uganda and his former friend Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa.
He also revealed plans for a new migrant facility in Florida, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
In addition, Trump’s much-debated effort to restrict birthright citizenship saw a boost from the US Supreme Court this week, which limited the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions against the policy — a move that will impact millions of immigrant families.
These initiatives are all part of the Republicans’ broader pledge to stop “all illegal entry into the country” and expel millions of undocumented immigrants.
Supporting these efforts, 55-year-old Melania Trump visited an immigrant intake and detention center in Tucson, Arizona, this week, where she praised the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
However, her visit reignited debate on social media, where critics began investigating the visa history of Slovenian-born Melania, who emigrated from the Balkans to the United States.
They discovered that for a brief period in the mid-to-late 1990s, Melania had worked in the US without proper authorization.
She initially arrived in August 1996 on a B‑1/B‑2 tourist visa, which does not permit paid employment.
Two months later, she secured an H‑1B visa for skilled workers, which allowed her to work legally as a model.
Yet, according to an Associated Press investigation, during the two months before her H‑1B was approved, Melania earned $20,056 doing modeling gigs for clients including Camel cigarettes, despite being on a tourist visa — a clear violation of immigration rules.
Although Melania later adjusted her status, eventually gaining a green card and becoming a US citizen in 2006, she had broken immigration laws for approximately seven weeks.
Pointing out what they saw as hypocrisy, one critic posted online: “Melania Trump broke immigration law in 1996 by coming on a tourist visa and working illegally as a model. Today, she’s thanking ICE for detaining immigrants in Tucson.”
Another user asked: “Why hasn’t she been deported?”
A third remarked: “She worked while on a visitor visa, which is illegal. Why do others get sent back while she gets to stay?”
One person on X (formerly Twitter) wrote: “Melania Trump came here in 1996 on a tourist visa and broke the law working as a model. She overstayed, and Donald Trump pulled strings so she could remain.”
This has led some left-leaning voices to wonder whether Trump’s aggressive deportation tactics might one day apply to his own wife.
“Melania should be deported,” one Reddit user argued.
“And so should Musk,” another added. “They both became citizens through false claims.”
A third chimed in: “How do we turn them into ICE?”
