Melania Trump will make a rare public appearance on Friday to welcome new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives.
The former model was born in Slovenia in 1970 and became a US citizen in 2006 before becoming only the country’s second foreign-born first lady.
She spent her childhood in the sleepy industrial town of Sevnica in a modest apartment.
Now she lives in the palatial Mar-a-Lago and spent four years in the White House, but will channel her experiences of migrating to to the U.S. and how she immediately ‘found success’.
She will tell the new arrivals of the importance of the ‘responsibility of citizenship’ and the importance of being part of the ‘democratic process’, according to Fox News.
‘As a naturalized citizen herself, Mrs. Trump looks forward to telling her story and being part of this momentous occasion for these new American citizens,’ her office said in a statement when the appearance was announced.
In her childhood, Melania’s father Viktor was a Communist Party member under Yugoslav dictator Marshal Tito, and as Melania grew up the family lived in a string of modest apartments. Melania’s mother Amalija worked as an executive in a textile factory.
She started modeling in Europe and, in 1996, moved to New York City. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006 and then sponsored her parents to become American citizens.
Friday’s naturalization event comes nearly two years after the National Archives and Record Administration asked the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s handling of documents from his tenure in the White House.
Melania Trump was born in Slovenia in 1970 and came to the U.S. in 1996
Melania Trump made a rare appearance last month at the funeral for Rossalyn Carter, joining former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton
The probe led to an indictment of the former president who has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges. The trial in this case is expected to start in Florida in May.
Donald Trump has pledged a widespread expansion of hardline immigration policies if elected again in 2024 that would restrict both legal and illegal immigration.
During the Trump administration, Melania did not appear to be involved in immigration issues – particularly after her controversial visit to a migrant dention center on the southern border in 2018 when she wore her now-infamous ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ jacket.
Melania Trump has largely avoided the public eye since leaving Washington in January 2021. She has been seen in social media posts from guests visiting the Trump clubs at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida; and in Bedminster, New Jersey.
She made a rare appearance last month at the funeral for Rossalyn Carter, joining former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.
As first lady, Melania Trump visited migrant dention center on the southern border in 2018 where she wore her now-infamous ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ jacket
Notably, Melania Trump hasn’t been by Donald Trump’s side as he fights his many legal battles in New York, Georgia, and federal courts.
And while Melania Trump has said she supports her husband’s bid for a second term in the White House, but she hasn’t appeared at one of his campaign events in more than a year – not since he announced his 2024 bid at Mar-a-Lago on November 15th, 2022.
In September, Donald Trump suggested his wife would soon join him on the trail.
Trump suggested his wife might join him on the campaign trail in the near future.
‘When it’s appropriate, but pretty soon,’ he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. ‘She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person and she loves our country very much. … And honestly, I like to keep her away from it. It’s so nasty and so mean.’