Featured Image Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Topics: Nicki Minaj, Donald Trump, Immigration, Politics, Celebrity, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Nicki Minaj, Donald Trump, Immigration, Politics, Celebrity, US News
A White House official has clarified whether Nicki Minaj has actually been gifted a 'Gold Card' by the president, after the rapper gave an update on her immigration status.
Minaj, best known for tracks like 'Super Bass', 'Starships', and 'Anaconda', was born in Trinidad and Tobago and came over to the US as a child.
Now 43 years old, the music star is yet to become a US citizen and has previously described herself as an illegal immigrant.
In a recent Twitter update, Minaj said she's finally applying to become an American citizen, as she wrote on January 29: "Finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President."
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The rapper proceeded to thank a petition that called for her to be deported amid her ties with Donald Trump for encouraging her to file the paperwork.
She alluded to the fact that she was given one of Trump's controversial 'Gold cards', which would speed up her citizenship process, 'free of charge'.
Elsewhere on her Twitter feed, she shared a photo of her holding one of said cards.
While it was presumed that Minaj had been given one of the cards that usually requires a $1,000,000 contribution plus a $15,000 processing fee, the White House has now clarified the matter.
An official, who spoke to The New York Times anonymously, stated that the card given to Minaj was just a 'memento' rather than it being proper visa documentation.
Meanwhile, another official who spoke to the news outlet said that Minaj is a legal immigrant in the US and has been for about 20 years. This means she was already eligible to apply for US citizenship without the apparent 'Gold Card' from the president.
UNILAD have approached the White House for additional comment.
Minaj's relationship with the POTUS and her right-wing views have left a lot of her fans shocked after the 'Side to Side' hitmaker previously never to support Trump.
In 2020, she said she was 'not gonna jump on the Trump bandwagon', but fast-forward to this year, and the rapper hailed the Trump administration as 'full of people with heart and soul'.
Speaking to Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, at a Turning Point USA event, Minaj gushed: "This administration is full of people with heart and soul, and they make me proud of them."
She went on to say that she 'loves' both Trump and JD Vance, claiming that they have 'a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to'.