Immigration Crackdown Row: Anti-Trump Camp Is Targeting 'First Lady' and Barron

Political figures like Congresswoman Maxine Waters have criticized this apparent double standard.

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As President Donald Trump intensifies calls for stricter immigration laws and deportations, critics have turned their focus on his own family. A viral petition on MoveOn titled "Deport Melania, Melania's Parents, and Barron in the First Round of Deportations" demands that the First Lady Melania Trump, her son Barron, and her father Viktor Knavs be deported—highlighting what many see as hypocrisy in Trump's immigration rhetoric.

The petition, which has already gathered over 45,000 signatures, urges that if Trump's tough immigration policies are to be enforced impartially, his naturalized wife and her family should be "on the first boat out." It also refers to Barron as an 'anchor baby,' a term used to criticize children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents who can then confer citizenship benefits—a phrase loaded with controversy. The petition also draws attention to Melania's immigration history and the citizenship status of her late mother, Amalija Knavs.