Was Trump’s Mother Mary Anne MacLeod an Illegal Immigrant?
When Donald Trump was on his campaign trail running for president and during his presidency, his one major concern was—and is—immigrants entering the country. This was to ensure that America is a safe country, reducing the number of crimes and protecting jobs for American citizens.
Since Trump has taken a strong stance on the immigration issue, his background has been looked into further. It has been discovered that his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod (after marriage, her name changed to Mary Anne MacLeod Trump), was an immigrant to the country. There has been a rumor in the media that his mother was an illegal immigrant in the United States. However, there are documents in place that were completed by Mary Anne, indicating that she seemed to have followed the process of legally immigrating to America. (Source: “These Ellis Island documents reveal a surprising truth about Donald Trump’s immigrant mother,” Splinter News, May 25, 2016.)
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America is known for inviting immigrants from around the world and being a melting pot. If this was not the case, we may have never heard of Donald Trump or he may not be the president if it were not for the openness of allowing immigrants to reside in America. Also, he may not have the real estate empire that he currently owns.
Is Trump being a hypocrite based on his own family’s past? Was there any wrongdoing done by Donald Trump’s mom in order to become a resident of America? Also, who is Mary Anne MacLeod? Would Mary Anne have been accepted into the country if Trump’s rules were in place when she applied for a visa? All of these questions will be answered below.
Who Is Mary Anne MacLeod?
Mary Anne was born in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, United Kingdom, in May of 1912. She had nine siblings and was the youngest child. Her parents were Malcolm and Mary MacLeod, her father worked as a fisherman, compulsory officer, and crofter. Her mother was a housewife.
Mary Anne was a very bright student and was amongst the top of her class. At the age of 17, she was still finding her place in the world and decided to take a trip to the United States in December of 1929. It was a very short trip and she soon returned to Glasgow. However, during her brief time in the United States, she applied for immigration status, which she was granted.
Scots-born Mary Anne MacLeod, the eventual mother of Donald Trump (Credits: Ninian Reid/Flickr.com)
The paperwork was sent to Glasgow and Mary Anne left for New York in May of 1930. She landed in New York one day after her 18th birthday. She lived with her older sister in Long Island, New York. This is where she worked as a domestic worker, completing everyday tasks such as shopping for food, housekeeping, caring for children, laundry, and ironing.
In the early 1930s, MacLeod met Fred Trump at a dance and the two fell in love instantly. Fred Trump was a real estate developer who focused on the New York area. The two married in 1936 and Mary Anne gave birth to their first child the following year, Maryanne Trump Barry. By 1948, Mary Anne gave birth to two daughters and three sons, including Donald Trump.
The family lived in Jamaica, Queens, New York. MacLeod took care of the home duties while Fred was building a real estate empire. Mary Anne passed away in August of 2000, a year after her husband’s death in 1999.
In the end, Mary Anne was able to come to America as an immigrant. This changed her life because that’s where she met her husband and gave birth to Donald Trump. Were it not possible for Mary Anne to apply for the visa and get approved, history would be written in a whole different way.
Mary Anne followed the rules that were in place at the time in order to be accepted as an immigrant. It can’t be said that there was any wrongdoing by Mary Anne. If it were the case, then the United States government always had the choice of deporting her back to Scotland, which never happened.
Trump’s Immigration Rules
When Trump was running for president one major issue was immigration. The claim was that American citizens were losing out on employment opportunities to immigrants and that allowing more immigrants into the country would jeopardize the safety of U.S. citizens and result in increased criminal activities. Once Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, he went straight to work on his promises, which included immigration bans and increased security rules.
Below are six rules that Trump is trying to, or already has, passed through an executive order.
1. Proposed Rule: Birth Rate Citizenship
Presently, if anyone gives birth to a child in America, regardless of whether they are a U.S. citizen or an undocumented immigrant, the child will be considered a U.S. citizen immediately. Trump wants to end this program for undocumented immigrant’s parents, meaning the child would not be seen as an American citizen. The proper process would need to be completed to become a U.S. citizen.
2. Proposed Rule: Kate’s Law
Kate’s Law is named after Kate Steinle, who was shot and killed by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who had a criminal record and was an illegal immigrant. He was deported a couple times out of the United States. Trump wants to ensure that if an illegal immigrant is convicted of a crime, they receive at least the mandatory minimum sentence and are deported, depending on the manner. (Source: “Donald Trump promises to ask Congress to pass Kate’s Law,” ABC News, July 2, 2015.)
3. Proposed Rule: Border Security
Border security was a big issue brought up during Trump’s campaign trail. The concern was that undocumented immigrants were coming into the United States through the Mexico-U.S. borders, resulting in more crimes occurring. Trump wanted to build a wall around the Mexico-U.S. border to prevent any undocumented immigrants from entering the country.
In September 2017, Trump got approval to build the wall. In the near future, it could be possible that this proposed action will help reduce the number of undocumented immigrants. This should result in immigrants taking the appropriate actions to enter and remain in the country. (Source: “Determination Pursuant to Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, as Amended,” The Daily Journal of the United States Government, September 12, 2017.)
4. Proposed Rule: Changes to the Number of Immigrants into the Country
Trump and his administration are looking to reduce the number of legal immigrants by 50%. This would be enforced by reducing the number of green cards issued and end the visa diversity lottery. The administration is also looking to allow only a maximum of 50,000 refugees into the country annually.
5. Actual Rule: Travel Ban
This is one example of a proposed rule turned into reality. About a week after taking residence in the White House, Trump signed an executive order that banned travelers from seven countries to enter the country. A few of the countries include Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Sudan.
Initially, the ban was issued for 90 days. Once the 90-day time period was complete, the ban was extended until October 2017. If there were travelers in the process of entering the U.S. before the ban was put in place, they were stopped at the airport and prevented from entering the country. The future of this travel ban is unknown since it has only been in effect for a few months.
6. Actual Rule: Increase Immigration Enforcement
Also, about a week after taking on the responsibilities of the President of the United States, Trump signed another executive order with a focus on immigration enforcement. The issue was in regards to deporting immigrants, who committed a crime or were accused of being involved in one. This includes immigrants being involved in prior instances and future crimes that are committed. The expectation to this rule is immigrants on good behavior who don’t cause trouble in America.
How Would Mary Anne MacLeod Be Impacted by Her Son’s Immigrant Rules?
Let’s say Donald Trump’s rules were applied to when his mother, Mary Anne, came to America in 1929. Would she still be allowed into the country?
The rule that would apply towards Mary Anne is number 4 (Proposed Rule: Changes to the Number of Immigrants into the Country).
The answer is that it depends on how lucky his mother would be in such a scenario. The reason for this is because there is only a small group of immigrants that would be allowed to come into the country. Therefore, it would give a smaller chance for Trump’s mother to be selected to become a citizen of the United States.
When Mary Anne entered the country, the whole process was completed within a few months. In terms of Trump’s rules towards immigration, there could be major delays attached to his mother’s application (if applied today). For instance, the visa process would only take in a certain amount of immigrants. The ones not selected would be allowed to come in at a later date, possibly. Therefore, there is no telling how long the process would have taken Mary Anne to enter the United States legally, if selected.
Final Words on Donald Trump’s Illegal Immigration Plans
America is known as the land of opportunity, where immigrants could enter the country with nothing and become whatever they desired. With more restrictions in place with regards to illegal immigrants, it will cause a few issues. There are many illegal immigrants living in America and paying taxes to local, state, and federal governments, which would no longer be received. This would impact the gross domestic product (GDP), the total labor force, and the size of the economy.
Thoughts About Donald Trump Immigrants New Rules
Rather than relying on the U.S. government informing immigrants when they can enter the country, immigrants could start to look at other countries to enter. The reason for this is because Trump wants to reduce the number of immigrants entering the country, which means there are a limited amount of entries allowed, annually. The only reason this would occur is because immigrants are looking to leave their home countries to start new beginnings and would not want to delay the process. This would also impact future economic growth since the population growth would be greatly impacted.
