First lady Melania Trump was instrumental in getting her husband to decide to sign an executive order and roll back his border separation policy, according to a Wednesday Washington Post report.
According to an unnamed White House official, the first lady has “become even more vocal about her thoughts and opinions on the topic” since last weekend, when her spokesperson sent out a statement calling on both parties to solve the crisis.
An official added that “from the start Mrs. Trump has been encouraging the President to do all he can to keep families together.”
The Slovenian-born first lady’s own immigration lawyer, Michael Wildes, has also weighed in on the policy. “It reminds us of past mistakes. It’s a big disappointment,” he said. He reportedly added that the border separations remind him of Japanese internment and Nazi detention camps.
Wildes took broader aim at the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric, telling the Washington Post that the terms “anchor babies” and “chain migration” are an attempt “to try to change the narrative” and taint the “beautiful notion of family reunification” and the truth that immigrants “build up our economy and pay it forward to the next generation.”
Many of Melania Trump’s first lady peers have already spoken out against the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
