What to know about claim Trump's being asked to deport his wife, Melania
For example, on July 15, a TikTok user posted a brief video (archived) promoting this rumor. That clip, receiving more than 3.1 million views and 629,000 likes, displayed the caption, "Donald Trump is now being asked to deport his own wife. He says he won't do it because she is family. Is this fair or does the U.S. president get privileges?" The video did not specify who asked for Melania Trump's deportation.
This claim also circulated in other videos on Facebook, Instagram (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived), including some vaguely mentioning "a viral petition with thousands of signatures." Some of the clips featured inauthentic images, as well as deepfake visuals and artificial intelligence-generated audio allegedly depicting Donald Trump and Melania Trump responding to the rumor.
According to searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo, the rumor originated not with any governmental body, judge, other type of official or piece of legislation ordering or requesting Trump to deport his wife, but instead pertained to an online petition — just as some of the videos noted. As of July 18, that petition, launched on Jan. 24 and hosted on the progressive policy website MoveOn.org, displayed more than 12,700 signatures with a goal of 15,000. That goal increased in recent weeks, indicating its organizer sought to continually raise the desired number of signatures.
The petition's title, misspelling the name of Barron Trump — the only child the president had with Melania Trump — read, "Deport Melania, Melania's parents and Baron in the first round of deportations!" The petition's organizer presented several points, including about the Trump administration's genuine desire to denaturalize some citizens, misleadingly labeling Barron Trump with the pejorative term "anchor baby" and falsely claiming Trump-issued documentation or legislation requires a person's "mother's mother" to have been born in the U.S.
The petition also displayed a disclaimer at the top of the page, reading:
MoveOn volunteers reviewed this petition and determined that it either may not reflect MoveOn members' progressive values, or that MoveOn members may disagree about whether to support this petition. MoveOn will not promote the petition beyond hosting it on our site.
Snopes contacted the White House Press Office and a spokesperson for the first lady, asking if they wished to share a statement in response to the existence of the petition, as well as the videos. A White House spokesperson responded only, "This is obviously fake," without further explaining what they were calling "fake." We also contacted MoveOn.org via email to ask about why they displayed the disclaimer disapproving of the petition, and will update this story if we receive further information.
Trump's focus on denaturalizing some citizens
The first part of the petition correctly noted the Trump administration's aim of deporting some naturalized citizens. On July 7, the Miami Herald reported the details of the administration's plans to prioritize looking at a specific kind of case for denaturalization:
Now, the president has directed the Justice Department to bolster its resources in a major crackdown on naturalized citizens suspected of unlawfully obtaining their U.S. citizenship.
According to a recent memo, the department plans to focus not only on individuals who may have lied about a crime or having done something illegal during the naturalization process. But authorities also plan to focus on others who may have committed a crime after becoming citizens — a generally untested legal frontier.
The Department of Justice website hosts that memo, with the pertinent section beginning on Page 3 under the title "Prioritizing Denaturalization." In addition to individuals who "illegally procured" naturalization or procured naturalization by "concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation," the memo also mentions a number of different types of cases and crimes that would meet a standard for prioritized denaturalization.
Barron Trump and 'mother's mother' claim
The petition also claimed, misspelling Barron Trump's name again, "Melania's anchor baby, Baron, should be forced to leave as well because we know that his mother's mother was born in a different country. That is part of the criteria that Trump is putting into place. Your mother's mother has to have been born in the United States and we know Melania's mother was born elsewhere."
This section labeled Barron Trump with the pejorative term "anchor baby." Cambridge Dictionary defines (archived) "anchor baby" as "an offensive term for a baby who is born in a country that gives all babies born there the right of citizenship, but whose parents are not citizens and do not have the right to live there. This term is used to accuse parents of using a baby as a way to get citizenship for themselves." The petition's usage of the term alleged Melania Trump gave birth to Barron to help herself receive U.S. citizenship.
However, as PBS reported, Melania Trump received her green card, establishing her lawful permanent resident status, in 2001 — five years before Barron's birth in March 2006. She became a citizen in July 2006. A previously-published fact check examines a subject relating to this matter.
We located no official documentation or legislation requiring a person's "mother's mother" to have been born in the U.S. A Trump-issued executive order from January targeting some aspects of birthright citizenship — guaranteed by the 14th Amendment — makes no mention of a person's "mother's mother" needing to be born in the country. Instead, his administration's proposed policy seeks to deny citizenship to infants born to parents living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily:
Sec. 2. Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons: (1) when that person's mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person's father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth, or (2) when that person's mother's presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person's father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth.
This policy, had the government enacted it prior to Barron's birth, would not have affected his automatic citizenship enshrined in the 14th Amendment.
Regarding the petition's subject of Melania Trump's foreign-born parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, The New York Times reported they received U.S. citizenship through the family-based immigration program sometimes referenced as "chain migration" — a policy Donald Trump has repeatedly disparaged.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on the claim that Melania Trump improperly arrived in the U.S. on an EB-1 "Einstein" visa.
"(45) Melania Trump." U.C. Santa Barbara, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/45-melania-trump.
"Anchor Baby." Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/anchor-baby.
Bustos, Sergio. "Birthright Citizenship Debate a Distraction, GOP Rivals Say." The Associated Press, 23 Aug. 2015, https://apnews.com/article/da7667bd32884c0d8d6107e914956081.
Caldwell, Alicia A., et al. "Melania Trump Modeled in U.S. Prior to Getting Work Visa." PBS News, The Associated Press, 5 Nov. 2016, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/melania-trump-modeled-u-s-prior-getting-work-visa.
CNN Editorial Research. "Melania Trump Fast Facts." CNN, 28 Nov. 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/us/melania-trump-fast-facts.
Correal, Annie, and Emily Cochrane. "Melania Trump's Parents Become U.S. Citizens, Using 'Chain Migration' Trump Hates." The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/melania-trumps-parents-become-us-citizens.html.
Davies, Emily. "Melania Trump's Parents Become U.S. Citizens Through Chain Migration Program Targeted by President." People.com, 10 Aug. 2018, https://people.com/politics/melania-trump-parents-us-citizens-trump-administration-legal-immigrants/.
Diaz, Jaclyn. "DOJ Announces Plans to Prioritize Cases to Revoke Citizenship." NPR, 30 Jun. 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/06/30/nx-s1-5445398/denaturalization-trump-immigration-enforcement.
Eidell, Lynsey. "All About Melania Trump's Parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs." People.com, 4 Apr. 2024, https://people.com/all-about-melania-trump-parents-8620972.
"Employment-Based Immigration: First Preference EB-1." USCIS, 24 Jan. 2025, https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-first-preference-eb-1.
Evon, Dan. "Did Barron Trump Benefit from Birthright Citizenship?" Snopes, 3 Nov. 2018, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/barron-trump-benefit-birthright-citizenship/.
"Federal Judge Says She Would Block Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order Nationwide." The Associated Press, 16 Jul. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/birthright-citizenship-trump-immigration-maryland-72d734dac006ea49d5a6b136f483eb21.
"Fourteenth Amendment." Constitution Annotated, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/.
Garcia, Arturo. "FACT CHECK: Did Melania Trump's Parents Arrive in the U.S. Through 'Chain Migration'?" Snopes, 8 Feb. 2018, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/melania-trump-parents-chain-migration-meme/.
Gunter, Joel. "What Is the Einstein Visa? And How Did Melania Trump Get One?" BBC, 2 Mar. 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43256318.
Jordan, Mary. "Questions Linger about How Melania Trump, a Slovenian Model, Scored 'the Einstein Visa.'" The Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/questions-linger-about-how-melania-trump-a-slovenian-model-scored-the-einstein-visa/2018/02/28/d307ddb2-1b35-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html.
Kim, Chloe. "President Trump's First 3 Children Did Not Receive Birthright Citizenship." The Associated Press, 1 Nov. 2018, https://apnews.com/article/archive-fact-checking-2449102499.
"Melania Trump | Biography, Book, Age, & Facts." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Melania-Trump.
"Melania Trump's Slovenian Parents Become US Citizens." BBC, 9 Aug. 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45137752.
Neuman, Scott. "First Lady's Parents Become U.S. Citizens Thanks To 'Chain Migration.'" NPR, 10 Aug. 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637371714/first-ladys-parents-become-u-s-citizens-thanks-to-chain-migration.
"Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt." The White House, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt/.
"Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship." The White House, 21 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/.
Sacchetti, Maria. "Records Confirm Trump's Mother-in-Law Came to U.S. through Process He Derided." The Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2024/03/25/trump-melania-parents-chain-migration/.
Weaver, Jay. "Justice Department, Driven by Trump Policy, Plans to Go after Naturalized U.S. Citizens." Miami Herald, 7 Jul. 2025, https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article309926220.html.
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