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发帖数: 3813 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 USelection 俱乐部 】
发信人: CalCat (北加猫), 信区: USelection
标 题: Melania Trump worked illegally
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sat Nov 5 01:23:30 2016, 美东)
Melania Trump modeled in US prior to getting work visa
Alicia a. Caldwell, Chad Day and Jake Pearson, Associated Press,Associated
Press 2 hours 26 minutes ago Comments Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Melania Trump was paid for 10 modeling jobs in the United
States worth $20,056 that occurred in the seven weeks before she had legal
permission to work in the country, according to detailed accounting ledgers,
contracts and related documents from 20 years ago provided to The
Associated Press.
The details of Mrs. Trump's early paid modeling work in the U.S. emerged in
the final days of a bitter presidential campaign in which her husband,
Donald Trump, has taken a hard line on immigration laws and those who
violate them. Trump has proposed broader use of the government's E-verify
system allowing employers to check whether job applicants are authorized to
work. He has noted that federal law prohibits illegally paying immigrants.
Mrs. Trump, who received a green card in March 2001 and became a U.S.
citizen in 2006, has always maintained that she arrived in the country
legally and never violated the terms of her immigration status. During the
presidential campaign, she has cited her story to defend her husband's hard
line on immigration.
The wife of the GOP presidential nominee, who sometimes worked as a model
under just her first name, has said through an attorney that she first came
to the U.S. from Slovenia on Aug. 27, 1996, on a B1/B2 visitor visa and then
obtained an H-1B work visa on Oct. 18, 1996.
The documents obtained by the AP show she was paid for 10 modeling
assignments between Sept. 10 and Oct. 15, during a time when her visa
allowed her generally to be in the U.S. and look for work but not perform
paid work in the country. The documents examined by the AP indicate that the
modeling assignments would have been outside the bounds of her visa.
It is highly unlikely that the discovery will affect the citizenship status
of Mrs. Trump. The government can seek to revoke the U.S. citizenship of
immigrants after the fact in cases when it determines a person willfully
misrepresented or concealed facts relevant to his naturalization. But the
government effectively does this in only the most egregious cases, such as
instances involving terrorism or war crimes.
The disclosures about the payments come as Mrs. Trump takes on a more
substantial role advocating for her husband's candidacy. She made her first
speech in months Thursday, in which she spoke of her time working as a model
in Europe and her decision to come to the U.S.
"As a young entrepreneur, I wanted to follow my dream to a place where
freedom and opportunity were in abundance. So of course, I came here," she
said. "Living and working in America was a true blessing, but I wanted
something more. I wanted to be an American."
The documents obtained by the AP included ledgers, other accounting
documents and a management agreement signed by Mrs. Trump from Metropolitan
International Management that covered parts of 1996 and 1997. The AP
obtained the files this week after seeking copies since August from
employees of the now-defunct modeling firm, after Mrs. Trump made comments
earlier this summer that appeared inconsistent with U.S. immigration rules.
A New York immigration lawyer whom Mrs. Trump asked to review her
immigration documents, Michael J. Wildes, also reviewed some of the ledgers
at AP's request. Wildes said in a brief statement that "these documents,
which have not been verified, do not reflect our records including
corresponding passport stamps." He did not elaborate or answer additional
questions asking for clarification. Wilde appeared to be referring to Mrs.
Trump's arrival in the United States on Aug. 27, 1996, one day after the
ledgers list a charge for car service to pick up Mrs. Trump from the airport
. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks also did not answer additional
written questions from the AP.
Since questions arose earlier this year, Mrs. Trump has declined to publicly
release her immigration records. Wildes, the immigration lawyer, released a
letter in September that laid out the details of what he said Mrs. Trump's
immigration records show, including a seven-week window in which Mrs. Trump
was in the U.S. before her work visa was issued.
During that seven-week period, the ledgers list modeling work for clients
that included Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman department store. The
management agreement, which said it was not an employment agreement,
included a handwritten date of Aug. 27, 1996. The top of the document said
it was "made and entered into as of this 4th day of September 1996."
Many of the documents were part of a legal dispute related to the
dissolution of the firm in the late 1990s and found recently in storage. The
accounting ledgers for the firm's models were listed on hundreds of pages
of continuously fed paper that appeared yellowed with age. They were
authenticated by a former employee who worked at the firm at the time. The
employee spoke on condition of anonymity because this person feared
retaliation and threats from Trump's presidential campaign.
Exhibit markings with the records were also consistent with documents filed
in New York state court, including a deposition of one former partner that
referred to the same exhibit number. The sworn testimony describing the
exhibit's content matches the documents obtained by the AP.
A former partner, Paolo Zampolli, who previously told the AP that he
recruited Mrs. Trump to come to the U.S. as a model, confirmed that the
contract language was used by his firm and his signature appeared on the
document. Mrs. Trump's signature on the contract resembled her signature on
her marriage license recorded in 2005. Asked about the two dates on the
document, Zampolli said he usually vacationed in Europe each August and
likely arranged for the contract to be formally executed when he returned to
New York after Labor Day, even though Mrs. Trump had signed it eight days
earlier.
Zampolli previously told the AP that Mrs. Trump obtained a work visa before
she modeled professionally in the United States. He said the ledgers for Mrs
. Trump were consistent with printouts used by his firm at the time, but he
would not personally vouch for them because he said money matters were
handled by the company's chief financial officer, who has since died.
Zampolli said he did not recall Mrs. Trump working without legal permission.
"Honestly, I don't know. It's like 20 years ago," he said. "The contract
looks (like) a real one and the standard one."
Foreigners are not allowed to use a visitor visa to work for pay in the U.S.
for American companies. Doing so would violate the terms of that visa and
could prohibit a foreigner from later changing his or her immigration status
in the U.S. or bar the foreigner from the United States again without
special permission to come back. The E-verify system started in 1997— after
Mrs. Trump came to the country— and was dramatically expanded after 2007.
Some ledgers obtained by the AP identify Mrs. Trump by her professional name
and detail her involvement with the modeling agency from July 18, 1996,
through Sept. 26, 1997. Other documents from the same accounting ledgers
identify Mrs. Trump as Melanija Knaus and list $20,526 in gross earnings for
the period before she was granted her work visa on Oct. 18, 1996. The
documents also show the modeling company paid for her rent, lent her money
and paid for her pager.
Some ledgers were first made available to True.Ink, an online lifestyle
publication, and then independently obtained and verified by the AP.
Metropolitan International Management managed the careers of about 65 women
in 1996 and 1997, according to court records. It paid the women as
independent contractors, collecting a 20 percent commission and deducting
expenses. The ledger shows that the firm also deducted federal taxes from
the models' gross earnings, including Mrs. Trump's |
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