Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Naomi Zeveloff February 7, 2017

Melania Trump’s Jewish immigration lawyer has joined the fight against Donald Trump’s travel ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries.

Michael Wildes, the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and the former mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, is representing two elderly Sudanese green card holders who were due to travel back to the U.S. from Sudan when the travel ban was signed.

Wildes told Haaretz that the ban is “unconstitutional” and “wrong and hurtful.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Wildes represented Trump Models for 10 years. Last summer, he vouched that Melania Trump had worked in America legally as the Slovenia-born model’s work history was in question during the presidential campaign.

Wildes, a Democrat, believes that Melania Trump has “great compassion” for immigrants like the ones banned by Donald Trump’s executive order. “She’ll be the Queen Esther in this story,” he said.

Defense for immigrants runs in the Wildes family. His father, Leon Wildes, famously stopped Richard Nixon from deporting John Lennon.

The elder Wildes paved the way for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which helps prevent undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children from being deported. Wildes is currently representing several DACA students at Yeshiva University.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount