Joy Reid is once again pushing fear to attack President Trump, this time claiming that his immigration policies could be used to deport his wife, Melania Trump, under a future Democratic president.

During a Thursday interview with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Reid speculated that Trump’s directive to federal attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings” could someday be turned on his own family. She questioned whether a Democrat president could say, “I don’t like Melania Trump. She wasn’t born here—she was born in Slovenia. She’s a naturalized citizen. She’s out.”

Reid also extended this claim to Trump’s children, suggesting a future president could target them by questioning their citizenship through their late mother, Ivana Trump, who was an immigrant.

But Reid’s theory doesn’t match reality. The June 11 memo from the Trump administration specifically focuses on immigrants who committed serious crimes or obtained citizenship through fraud, not individuals targeted for their political views. The categories listed include national security threats, gang members, human traffickers, and war criminals.

There is no language in the memo that would allow a president to target someone like Melania Trump simply because of personal or political disagreements. Moreover, the executive branch does not have the power to unilaterally revoke someone’s citizenship. Denaturalization proceedings must go through the courts, ensuring checks and balances remain in place.

While it’s true that a future Democrat president could push denaturalization policies to extremes, using them for purely political revenge would face serious legal challenges. The courts would not simply rubber-stamp such an abuse of power.

Joy Reid’s comments reflect a common tactic on the left: using fear to paint conservative policies as authoritarian while ignoring the facts. Trump’s denaturalization policy is targeted at protecting Americans from criminals and fraudsters who should never have gained citizenship in the first place, not at stripping law-abiding individuals of their rights.

This discussion highlights the left’s desperation to undermine Trump’s policies by twisting their purpose and scaring Americans with false narratives. Instead of focusing on protecting the nation, Reid and others prefer to spin doomsday scenarios that don’t hold up under legal scrutiny.

Conservatives should remain clear-eyed about what Trump’s policy actually does: it enforces the law against those who lied to enter this country or endangered American citizens after gaining citizenship, ensuring that citizenship remains a privilege earned through honesty and respect for the law.

The left’s attempt to weaponize fear over denaturalization falls apart when faced with the truth. Americans deserve leaders who uphold the law while protecting the nation, not pundits spreading baseless fear to score cheap political points.