Barry Reeger/AP Photo, Joe Raedle/Getty Images
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene cited Melania Trump as an example of a good immigrant.
- Greene was speaking to the House ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a Trump-era migration law.
- Greene contrasted the former first lady's immigration with those trying to cross the Mexico-US border.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene praised former First Lady Melania Trump for being a good immigrant amid reports of thousands of migrants heading to the US border due to the expiration of a Trump-era migration law.
"I would like to remind everyone that Republicans believe in legal immigration. We're very proud of our former first lady, Melania Trump, who immigrated legally to the United States," Greene said on Wednesday.
"But there is a clear difference in policies when we talk about border and security for the United States of America," she said, criticizing the Biden administration's immigration policies.
The Georgia representative made the comments while speaking in the House about the Republicans' latest border security bill, which the party introduced ahead of the expiration of the Title 42 policy.
Title 42, which expired overnight on Thursday, was a pandemic-era public health measure introduced by then-President Donald Trump and used to turn away migrants by citing the need to stop COVID-19 spreading across the border.
Around 2.8 million people were expelled under the policy, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said on Thursday that an estimated 60,000 migrants were waiting on the Mexican side of the southern border as the pandemic-era rule ended.
Speaking in the House, Greene contrasted the former first lady's immigration from Slovenia with those trying to cross the Mexico-US border.
Ahead of the 2016 election, there was speculation about whether Trump legally came to the US from Slovenia in the 1990s.
Trump denied the allegations and published a letter from an attorney who reviewed her immigration history and confirmed she did so in compliance with visa laws.
Greene has regularly voiced hardline and extreme stances on immigration, including alluding to the white supremacist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory and spreading false information about "illegals" hosting "big barbacoas" at the border.