Joy Reid warns Trump denaturalizing citizens could put Melania at risk of deportation: 'She's outta here'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Liberal firebrand and former MSNBC star Joy Reid is dragging First Lady Melania Trump into the immigration debate sparked by President Donald Trump’s alleged plans to denaturalize certain US citizens.

On a recent episode of 'The Joy Reid Show', Reid was joined by Democrat Representative Pramila Jayapal, where the pair sounded the alarm over Trump’s push to strip some Americans — particularly naturalized citizens — of their citizenship.

Joy Reid targets Melania Trump

While dissecting a Department of Justice memo instructing agents to “prioritize denaturalization” of individuals who “pose a potential danger to national security,” Joy Reid said she thinks this is a slippery slope that could seriously backfire on the First Family.

Reid argued it sets a “dangerous precedent” and could give future presidents unchecked power to boot out people they simply don’t like. That’s when she zeroed in on Melania Trump, who wasn’t born in the US.

“If we ever get a Democratic president, they could say, ‘I don’t like Melania Trump. She wasn’t born here. She was born in Slovenia. She is a naturalized citizen. She’s outta here,’” Reid said.

Reid subsequently noted that Ivana Trump — Trump’s first wife, who died in 2022 and is famously buried at his New Jersey golf course — also wasn’t a US citizen. “And maybe the next Democratic president says, ‘You know what? I don’t like the Trumps. And so we’re gonna denaturalize all of the Trump children, whose mother was a foreigner at the time,’” Reid added.

She even called out Secretary of State Marco Rubio's family history. She brought up how Rubio’s grandfather immigrated from Cuba, only to be deported for entering the US without a visa.

The former MSNBC host blasted Trump’s entire denaturalization rhetoric as “monarchial-like” and asked how far such a policy could go.

Joy Reid was excoriated on social media for her comments

But not everyone was clapping. Joy Reid's remarks did not sit well with many on social media.

"Did Trump's victory give them brain damage or were they always this dumb?" one posted on X.

"What part of legal and illegal don’t the left understand?" another wrote.

"Reid is a combination of evil and mentally ill, meaning today's Democrat. JFK is weeping..." someone else offered.

"She fantasizes about the Trump family more than anyone else in America," read a comment.

"Joy has Trump Obsession Disorder... The extreme side of TDS..." another chimed in.

Melania Trump’s 'Einstein Visa' and her husband's immigration crusade

Melania Trump arrived in the US in 1996 on a visitor’s visa, later obtaining a work visa as she pursued her modeling career. According to a 2018 Washington Post investigation, she began the process of becoming a US citizen in 2000, around the time she started dating Trump.

She landed a green card in March 2001 through the elite EB-1 program, known informally as the “Einstein visa” — a track typically reserved for individuals with “extraordinary abilities.” Applicants usually need to show top-tier accomplishments, and the visa is typically given to the top two percent in a particular field.

That said, immigration has been a top Trump talking point from day one of his return to the White House. Now, his administration appears to be floating the idea of revoking naturalized citizenship altogether.

Meanwhile, Trump has also toyed with the idea of deporting naturalized citizens who happen to also be his political enemies — including tech billionaire and his former 'first buddy' Elon Musk and New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

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