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Aug. 9 (UPI) -- First lady Melania Trump's parents were sworn in as naturalized U.S. citizens during a private ceremony in New York on Thursday. Viktor Knavs, 74, and Amalija Knavs, 73, who were living in the United States as permanent residents after immigrating from Slovenia, took the oath of citizenship, an attorney for the family confirmed to Politico.
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Melania Trump, who is on vacation in New Jersey with her husband, President Donald Trump, wasn't present for the ceremony.
The couple's immigration attorney, Michael Wildes, told CNN the first lady's parents had been living in the United States on green cards and "are very grateful and appreciative of this wonderful day for their family."
He declined to comment on the process of how they obtained citizenship outside of noting they were permanent residents who were on track to be naturalized.
A letter published by Wildes in 2016 states Melania Trump immigrated to the United States from Slovenia in August 1996 and was issued a H-1B visa to work as a model in October that year. She was issued five H-1B visas from 1996 to 2001 and married Donald Trump in 2005.
In June, President Trump endorsed two House immigration bills that proposed to end or curb the family-based immigration system sometimes referred to as "chain migration."
In November, Trump tweeted the practice was unacceptable and must be ended.
"CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil," he said.
