January 28, 2017

Melania Trump’s Own Immigration Lawyer Condemns Refugee Ban

“How can we turn our backs on these individuals?”

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

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First Lady Melania Trump’s own immigration attorney, who has also represented the Trump Organization in numerous immigration cases, condemned President Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” on Saturday afternoon, during an interview on MSNBC.

“How can we turn our backs on these individuals?” New York lawyer Michael Wildes said, adding that he thought the legal disputes over the executive order would eventually be taken up by the Supreme Court. “I think it is going to get worse before it gets better.”

“This is not the way you deal with people’s lives,” he said.

Wildes has previously represented Trump Models, President Trump’s New York modeling agency, and secured visas for models appearing in Trump’s Miss Universe pageants.

Last September, Melania Trump attempted to clear up questions surrounding her own immigration to the US, when she released a signed letter from  Wildes flatly denying allegations that she had worked illegally in the US before receiving a proper work visa. But new documents uncovered by the AP less than two months later—including financial ledgers and contracts—contradicted the public account given by Trump and Wildes, revealing the Slovenia-born model had in fact received paid New York modeling assignments in the seven weeks before she received her work visa.

Wildes, a Democrat, voted for Hillary Clinton, according to an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell:

It’s not the first time Wildes has spoken out about Trump’s actions on immigration as president. “This is scary stuff for America’s legacy of immigration, for business and for our hospitality,” Wildes told ABC News this week.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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