Former first lady Melania Trump spoke in uncharacteristically personal terms Friday about her experience becoming a US citizen and the challenges she faced traversing a complicated legal system as she made a rare public appearance during a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives in Washington.

The former first lady applauded the 25 immigrants sitting before her who were poised to be sworn in as US citizens and outlined the many hurdles immigrants have to overcome to secure citizenship. She made no mention of her husband, former President Donald Trump, who has pledged a widespread expansion of hard-line immigration policies if elected again in 2024 that would restrict both legal and illegal immigration.

“My personal experience of traversing the challenges of the immigration process opened my eyes to the harsh realities people face, including you, who try to become US citizens,” the Slovenian-born Melania Trump said.

The former first lady, who became a US citizen in 2006, described the difficulties of trying to familiarize herself with immigration law, conducting research and painstakingly gathering information and paperwork.

“The pathway to citizenship is arduous,” she said, adding that during that time, “My life turned into labyrinth of organizing paperwork.”

Melania Trump’s appearance at the National Archives comes nearly two years after the agency asked the Justice Department to investigate her husband’s handling of White House records. The probe led to an indictment of the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges. The trial in this case is expected to start in Florida in May.

Despite this, a source close to the former president insisted that he was supportive of his wife’s decision to take part in the event.

You can read more in an article by  Kristen Holmes and Kate Sullivan published in the http://kten.com/ web site at: https://tinyurl.com/2x9rcjjr.