Former NCAA swimmer and advocate for women's sports, Riley Gaines, expressed her gratitude towards President Trump's decision to overturn the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for legal immigrants. Gaines shared her family's challenging three-year journey navigating the Biden administration's immigration policies, describing it as being "stonewalled" and feeling "blackmailed" due to her husband's hesitancy towards the vaccine impacting his green card application. She highlighted the significant financial burden, estimating approximately $15,000 spent on legal fees and applications, with repeated restarts throughout the process.
Gaines expressed frustration with the Biden administration's lack of guidance, contrasting it with the swift action taken by the Trump administration after her situation gained attention on social media. She praised Trump's commitment to streamlining legal immigration while strengthening border security for those who are "skilled, hardworking, tax-paying people who love America." Gaines celebrated the policy change on X (formerly Twitter), thanking Trump and highlighting the impact on countless others facing similar immigration hurdles.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officially announced the policy change, confirming that COVID-19 vaccination would no longer be a prerequisite for legal immigrants seeking citizenship. This reverses the Biden administration's October 2021 mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all citizenship applicants. Gaines previously shared her husband's experience of being unable to obtain a green card due to his vaccine hesitancy, despite having lived in the US for six years after moving from England for college. She pointed out the seeming discrepancy of not requiring illegal immigrants to be vaccinated while mandating it for legal immigrants.
