As is the case with far too many stories coming from the Trump administration, it all started with a tweet. This time is was from Dan Scavino, Jr., the White House social media director:
Here’s a brief explainer from NPR on what ‘chain migration’ is:
Well, when an immigrant comes here legally and ultimately becomes a U.S. citizen, he or she has the right to bring family members along behind, not just spouses or children, but parents, even adult siblings and their spouses. And in time, those people can, of course, then bring in their relatives, so one immigrant coming here legally can set in motion a whole migration chain. And actually, this is how about two-thirds of all legal immigrants moving to this country come in now.
At its start, chain migration was a way to favor white immigrants from European countries. With that in mind, Twitter user Jennifer Mendelsohn was able to perfectly deliver the rare genealogy burn using the Scavino family records:
After Mendelsohn dropped the genealogy receipts, she retweeted immigration lawyer and advocate Hassan Ahmad’s worthy read on the origin of chain migration and why it’s time to retire the slur.