Melania Trump’s Father Became an American Citizen Despite Being a Communist and Having a Past Criminal Record

The average Joe wanting to become a U.S. citizen must have perfect record and a squeaky clean past…but apparently the rules don’t apply to Melania Trump’s father, Viktor Knavs.

Having previously lived on green cards sponsored by Melania, who moved to the United States from Slovenia to work as a model in 1996, the Knavs swore an oath of citizenship in a naturalization ceremony in New York a year ago– taking advantage of a form of “chain migration” that Donald Trump has previously tried to appeal.
So who is Viktor Knavs?

A member of the Communist Party as a young man, 75 year-old Viktor lived in the rural town of Sevnica in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia, which was best known for its medieval castle and annual salami festival – at least until his son-in-law’s unexpected ascent to the White House.

In the former Yugoslavia, membership of the Communist Party was a highly-coveted privilege reserved for an elite few – it’s not known how Viktor won his place.

But Knavs also has a hidden past that includes a criminal record.

Viktor Knavs had a record with the Yugoslavian secret police back in Slovenia.

Author Igor Omerza said that when he was reading through the database of the archives of the secret police archives, Knavs was revealed as having a criminal record. Despite this fact, Viktor and his wife, Melania’s mother, both easily became U.S. citizens.

Viktor Knavs was listed as a person with a criminal record, being found guilty of two items in the “Yugoslav Penal Code.” There are no details of the crime committed, but the report indicates that it was related to “the acquisition, sale or production of goods without the explicit permission of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.”

A person convicted of those crimes would normally face up to 10 years in jail, as well as significant fines.

But Knavs was a member of the Communist Party elite.