Irate Melania Trump mulling 'retaliatory action' after DHS makes late mother's immigration records public

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Melania Trump is reportedly furious after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to release her late mother's immigration records. According to her family's lawyer, the former first lady is not taking this lightly and is thinking about how she can protect her family’s privacy.

The drama began when DHS made public 166 pages of records about Melania’s mother Amalija Knavs, who passed away at 78 earlier this year. The release happened while the conservative Heritage Foundation was fighting to make Prince Harry’s visa records public.

Why is Melania Trump upset?

The Knavs family's immigration attorney Michael Wildes told the Daily Mail that “Mrs. Trump is rightfully upset,” and added that she "will be looking to explore retaliatory options to protect her family."

Wildes was shocked at how quickly DHS released the sensitive documents—just 11 days after the Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

"This egregious and abhorrent violation of Ms. Knavs's immigration file – including highly sensitive medical information and addresses that impact her family's security- is an outlandish affront, not just to Ms. Knavs, and her family including former First Lady Melania Trump, but also to the very notions of confidentiality and privacy," the lawyer said. 

"That the DHS released Ms. Knavs's immigration file after only 11 days further screams the impropriety of this request. How could the DOJ and Secret Service allow this breach?" he wondered.

It’s easy to see why Melania is upset. These documents aren’t just about immigration—they include details like Knavs's home address in Slovenia, her vaccination records, and even sensitive medical information like her negative HIV test result.

Heritage Foundation’s role and the Prince Harry connection

So, why is the Heritage Foundation involved? It turns out the conservative think tank has been trying to get their hands on Prince Harry’s immigration records through a FOIA request ever since he opened up about his past drug use in his memoir 'Spare'.

In the book, published in 2023, Harry was rather candid about experimenting with cannabis, cocaine, and even magic mushrooms. He and Meghan Markle also talked about it in their Netflix docuseries — which raised eyebrows and put his immigration status under scrutiny.

The foundation wanted to know if he had disclosed this information on his visa paperwork, as he would have been required to. However, DHS turned down Heritage’s initial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for Harry’s records, as well as their follow-up efforts to obtain those documents.

The Heritage Foundation didn’t give up, though. A judge in Washington dismissed their case just last month, but they’re now pushing for all the sealed materials to be made public so they can make a more robust appeal.

Samuel Dewey, a lawyer working with Heritage, pointed out that the kind of records they’re after for Prince Harry are often included in an A-File (or Alien File), like those of Knavs. Dewey argued that the recently released records of Melania’s mother even contain State Department forms, suggesting that similar documentation should be available for Harry.

The timing of Knavs's file release has given Heritage new ammunition. They’re arguing that if Melania’s mother’s records can be released, then Harry’s should be fair game too. They believe the DHS’s quick turnaround on the Knavs file raises questions about how these decisions are being made.

Inside Amalija Knavs’ immigration records

The released documents reveal a lot about Amalija Knavs’s journey to US citizenship. The records include everything from her home addresses and multiple passports to her medical records, like her vaccination history. They even have details of her trips back and forth between Slovenia and the US over the years.

Knavs's path to citizenship started in 2009 when Melania applied for her parents to become American citizens through a process often referred to as “chain migration.” Amalija and her husband Viktor — both originally from Slovenia — officially became US citizens in a private ceremony in New York in August 2018.

Wildes, who was by Knavs’s side during her naturalization ceremony in 2018, didn’t mince words when he described how the family feels about the release. He called it a “shocking and completely unnecessary disclosure” that “desecrated her memory.”

Even with some redactions in the documents, a lot of private information was left exposed which the family believes should have stayed confidential.

For instance, the paperwork details Knavs’s living arrangements at Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago, her citizenship test answers, and even her background check from Slovenia. There’s also information about her commitment to the US, where she indicated she’d be “willing to bear arms on behalf of the United States” if required.

The situation is especially tough for the Trump family, considering they’ve had to deal with all the scrutiny that comes with public life for years. Earlier this year, Melania and Donald announced Amalija’s passing, revealing that she had been “very ill” in late 2023 before passing away in a Miami hospital on January 9.

However, the family didn’t disclose the exact cause of death, the Daily Mail reported.