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Melania likely worked illegally in the US

Threegoofs

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Hilarious. Looks like Trumps third wife was likely working illegally in this country for a while, working on a tourist visa.

Looks like all of Trumps outrage on illegal workers is irrelevant if they're hot.

Gaps in Melania Trump's immigration story raise questions - POLITICO
I saw this yesterday, but was too busy to post it.

But yeah, it's a pretty wild development.

The problem is: We can't access the INS documents without her permission - which obviously never will happen. So all we can do is go by her recorded personal statements, archival images of her removed personal website, and her public work records - which together seem to indicate she was indeed here working illegally.

Now the additional problem is: Her words, recorded or not, are not the same as documented proof in hard paper.

But I think it's interesting that this story has been active for maybe 36 hours, and the Trump campaign has been (unusual for them) silent on the matter. Either they're spooked, or Trump has done the only smart move he has in the last two weeks! :lamo
 
I saw this yesterday, but was too busy to post it.

But yeah, it's a pretty wild development.

The problem is: We can't access the INS documents without her permission - which obviously never will happen. So all we can do is go by her recorded personal statements, archival images of her removed personal website, and her public work records - which together seem to indicate she was indeed here working illegally.

Now the additional problem is: Her words, recorded or not, are not the same as documented proof in hard paper.

But I think it's interesting that this story has been active for maybe 36 hours, and the Trump campaign has been (unusual for them) silent on the matter. Either they're spooked, or Trump has done the only smart move he has in the last two weeks! :lamo

Be honest. You were too busy to post it because it took so long to download the high res Ménage a Trump photos!
 
Be honest. You were too busy to post it because it took so long to download the high res Ménage a Trump photos!
Argh! You saw right through me!

The truth of the matter is: I like to do a very close & thorough examination of the materials I present, and I kinda' got lost in it! :2razz:
 
I'm not 100% sure how the immigration law works but if you're an employee of a foreign corporation who comes to the US temporarily (90 days or less) and are paid less than $3000 you aren't considered to have been in a trade or business in this country and don't have to claim the money earned as US income. I don't know who Melania was working for when those pictured were taken but if she was an employee of a European company and came here just for the shoot and was paid less than $3k then she didn't violate tax law. My guess is that the tax law lines up with immigration law on this issue but I'm not sure.
 
I'm not 100% sure how the immigration law works but if you're an employee of a foreign corporation who comes to the US temporarily (90 days or less) and are paid less than $3000 you aren't considered to have been in a trade or business in this country and don't have to claim the money earned as US income. I don't know who Melania was working for when those pictured were taken but if she was an employee of a European company and came here just for the shoot and was paid less than $3k then she didn't violate tax law. My guess is that the tax law lines up with immigration law on this issue but I'm not sure.

And if she was here on a tourist visa?

TAKIN' ER JERBS!
 
I'm not 100% sure how the immigration law works but if you're an employee of a foreign corporation who comes to the US temporarily (90 days or less) and are paid less than $3000 you aren't considered to have been in a trade or business in this country and don't have to claim the money earned as US income. I don't know who Melania was working for when those pictured were taken but if she was an employee of a European company and came here just for the shoot and was paid less than $3k then she didn't violate tax law. My guess is that the tax law lines up with immigration law on this issue but I'm not sure.

Yeah- that sounds like BS to me. If not, I think I'll hire someone for ten weeks at $5/hr 60 hrs/wk for ten weeks to model hedge trimmers and riding lawn mowers on my lawn.
 
This is totally irrelevant. There are so many reasons to oppose Trump and his idiocy. That his wife may have worked illegally in the US at some point isn't one of them. This is just petty election dirt-digging.
 
This is totally irrelevant. There are so many reasons to oppose Trump and his idiocy. That his wife may have worked illegally in the US at some point isn't one of them. This is just petty election dirt-digging.

Yeah, come on, people. She's just taking jobs that no American wants!
 
This is totally irrelevant. There are so many reasons to oppose Trump and his idiocy. That his wife may have worked illegally in the US at some point isn't one of them. This is just petty election dirt-digging.

True.

It's not like this concept is the centerpiece of his campaign, or anything.
 
True.

It's not like this concept is the centerpiece of his campaign, or anything.

But this is irrelevant to why he's wrong about that. Look, if it turns out that Melania had all the proper Visas would that suddenly change your opinion of Trump's immigration platform? Would you say, "oh, ok I guess Trump may be right about immigration after all.". Of course not. Because whether Melania worked in the US illegally at some point is irrelevant to what makes his stance a bad idea.

This is a non-issue. It's the kind of petty skewering that comes into play from both sides during election time, distracting from more substantive critiques of the candidates and their platforms. We shouldn't be supporting this kind of crap, even when it's targeting the candidate we oppose. IMHO
 
But this is irrelevant to why he's wrong about that. Look, if it turns out that Melania had all the proper Visas would that suddenly change your opinion of Trump's immigration platform? Would you say, "oh, ok I guess Trump may be right about immigration after all.". Of course not. Because whether Melania worked in the US illegally at some point is irrelevant to what makes his stance a bad idea.

This is a non-issue. It's the kind of petty skewering that comes into play from both sides during election time, distracting from more substantive critiques of the candidates and their platforms. We shouldn't be supporting this kind of crap, even when it's targeting the candidate we oppose. IMHO

I think we can pretty much assess Trumps entire campaign as 'non substantial' (hes proposing a half trillion dollar stimulus which sometimes is a trillion dollar stimulus on infrastructure which he will pay by 'getting good deals').

This is relevant in that its HILARIOUS.
 
This is totally irrelevant. There are so many reasons to oppose Trump and his idiocy. That his wife may have worked illegally in the US at some point isn't one of them. This is just petty election dirt-digging.

Hypocrisy is a bitch.
 
I saw this yesterday, but was too busy to post it.

But yeah, it's a pretty wild development.

The problem is: We can't access the INS documents without her permission - which obviously never will happen. So all we can do is go by her recorded personal statements, archival images of her removed personal website, and her public work records - which together seem to indicate she was indeed here working illegally.

Now the additional problem is: Her words, recorded or not, are not the same as documented proof in hard paper.

But I think it's interesting that this story has been active for maybe 36 hours, and the Trump campaign has been (unusual for them) silent on the matter. Either they're spooked, or Trump has done the only smart move he has in the last two weeks! :lamo

..or this is tempest in teapot #87...
 
What does that have to do with the election? I'd want to worry more about her security clearance given Donald's mouth.

I would not VET my wife. Why should Donald?

Maybe a criminal background check. Seems to be the trend these days to check out who you are dating.

Pretty sure he likely looked into her finances before agreeing to the prenuptial agreement.

There are much more important election issues than this.
 
I'm not 100% sure how the immigration law works but if you're an employee of a foreign corporation who comes to the US temporarily (90 days or less) and are paid less than $3000 you aren't considered to have been in a trade or business in this country and don't have to claim the money earned as US income. I don't know who Melania was working for when those pictured were taken but if she was an employee of a European company and came here just for the shoot and was paid less than $3k then she didn't violate tax law. My guess is that the tax law lines up with immigration law on this issue but I'm not sure.
She wasn't an employee. She was booking jobs through a Parisian modeling agency.

If she wanted to work in the US, she was supposed to get an H1B or similar visa. However, that lets you stay in the US for 3 years, and there is no need to go back to your own nation.

She explicitly stated that she went back to Slovenia every few months. The only visas that require the national to return to their nation are tourist visas, and you're not supposed to work in the US on a tourist visa.

Of course, it was (and probably still is) fairly common for models to do this, especially among agencies that were less scrupulous or less organized.

It's not a huge deal, but it is a violation of immigration law, and a tad hypocritical for Trump & the Trumpettes to take a hard line against illegal immigration, but give Trump a pass -- not just on this, but on using H1B's for Mar-A-Lago and similar Trump businesses, even while Trump proclaims he wants to stop H1Bs. It ties into a (slightly) larger narrative of "WTF."

That said, keep in mind that partisans are highly sensitive to hypocrisies by the other side, and very willing to cut people on their own side lots of slack for transgressions.
 
..or this is tempest in teapot #87...
Without any more hard proof than her mere words, you might be right. We saw how Melania claiming she wrote the plagiarized convention speech had little effect, since we knew she was likely lying and the campaign later admitted such. So at this time, it's only her words.

But if any hard documentation comes out, Trump will likely get hit with this at the debate.

The problem with all these 'tempests in teapots' as you call them, is many will come back to the forefront just before the election during the debate, and he will have to defend himself.

This stuff does just roll-off his ardent supporters, but it might not to the rest of the country that hasn't paid attention when they start hearing it, and that occurs at & after the debate.

So all this is stuff is going to be re-litigated when it counts, and there's an awful lot of it ("87" as you claim).
 
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