Melania Wins The Irony Contest: Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Birthright Citizenship Bid

Last Updated:June 30, 2026, 20:37 IST

Melania's parents used family-based immigration policies to become citizens, which President Donald Trump has since attempted to eliminate.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that could also have affected First Lady Melania Trump. Born in Slovenia to Slovenian parents, Melania became a naturalised US citizen after giving birth to her son, Barron Trump, in the United States.

Earlier, Trump had said that it would be a “disgrace" if the independent justices rule against him on US birthright citizenship.

His order had directed federal agencies to deny automatic US citizenship to children born in the country if neither parent is an American citizen nor a lawful permanent resident. However, a lower court blocked the policy, prompting the administration to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

First Lady’s Family History

According to the White House History website, Melanija Knavs (Melania Knauss) was born on April 26, 1970, in the town of Sevnica, Slovenia (the former Yugoslavia) to parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs.

Viktor worked as a chauffeur and car salesman, while Amalija was a patternmaker at a government-owned textile factory, Jutranjka. According to People magazine, Viktor was a member of the Sevnica Communist Party and worked as a chauffeur first for the mayor of a neighbouring town and then for the head of Jutranjka, The New York Times reported.

She had studied design before pausing to pursue a modelling career abroad. She came to the United States during the 1990s and continued her modelling career.

According to People magazine, Melania’s parents used family-based immigration policies to become citizens, which President Donald Trump has since attempted to eliminate.

During Donald’s first term as president, Viktor and Amalija lived in the White House part-time, in the suite once occupied by former President Barack Obama’s mother, The New York Times reported.

On January 22, 2005, she married businessman and current President Donald Trump and her parents moved to the US to support them and help raise their son, Barron Trump, who was born in 2006.

Since Trump became the President, Melania became the second first lady born outside of the United States (the first being Louisa Catherine Adams) and the only first lady to become a naturalised U.S. citizen (2006).

News world Melania Wins The Irony Contest: Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Birthright Citizenship Bid

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