--- title: Melania Trump Continues to Deny She Immigrated Illegally description: Melania Trump has issued a letter from a lawyer claiming her immigration process followed all the rules, after doubts were raised canonical: https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-14T15:04:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:35:18.475Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Releases Letter From Attorney Saying She Immigrated Legally og:description: A lawyer wrote her immigration process followed all the rules og:url: https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42a10ef6436d2636/6988a5f1e20a87f29ca9264d/melania-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2016 Republican National Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Releases Letter From Attorney Saying She Immigrated Legally twitter:description: A lawyer wrote her immigration process followed all the rules twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42a10ef6436d2636/6988a5f1e20a87f29ca9264d/melania-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Releases Letter From Attorney Saying She Immigrated Legally by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 14, 2016 3:04 PM UTC  Melania Trump, wife of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday, July 18, 2016. Melania Trump, wife of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday, July 18, 2016.Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 14, 2016 3:04 PM UTC [Melania Trump](http://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/) has issued a letter from a lawyer claiming her[ immigration process](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/02/weeks-after-pledging-answers-big-questions-about-melania-trumps-immigration-status-linger/) followed all the rules, after doubts were raised over the summer. In the letter, longtime Donald Trump corporate attorney Michael J. Wildes says that he reviewed documents from her immigration process and determined that she entered the United States properly. At issue is a photo shoot that [several outlets reported](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648) in August may have taken place in the United States in 1995, before then-Melania Knauss had a work visa. Wildes wrote that Melania Trump “was never in the United States in 1995” and that the immigration documents show her first entry to the United States was on Aug. 27, 1996. The letter was not accompanied by any of the documents it refers to and at one point states that the photo shoot actually took place in 1996, citing only “an interview with Mrs. Trump.” Wildes previously represented Trump Models and the Miss Universe Organization at times when they were owned by Donald Trump. In early August, Trump promised that his campaign would hold a [press conference](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trumps-immigration-hypocrisy/2016/09/06/270b1b0c-746d-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.d95933ec62af) in the next few weeks to address questions about Melania’s immigration, but so far he has not done so. Melania Trump released the letter via a tweet Wednesday morning. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Releases Letter From Attorney Saying She Immigrated Legally","datePublished":"2016-09-14T15:04:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:35:18.475Z","description":"Melania issued a lawyer's letter on her Twitter account","url":"https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42a10ef6436d2636/6988a5f1e20a87f29ca9264d/melania-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42a10ef6436d2636/6988a5f1e20a87f29ca9264d/melania-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Republican National Convention","caption":"2016 Republican National Convention","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4492946/melania-trump-immigration-letter-lawyer/","name":"Melania Trump Releases Letter From Attorney Saying She Immigrated Legally"}}]}] ```