Proving President Donald Trump’s favor for legal immigration, Riley Gaines shared a personal anecdote about “promises made, promises kept” within hours of his inauguration.
Fighting off gender ideology wasn’t the only battle the spirit of the age brought against the NCAA All-American swimmer turned conservative activist and commentator. In fact, much of her young marriage has been spent at odds with the federal government over her immigrant husband’s vaccination status until Trump’s White House return, where he told her, “Give me two hours.”
Joining Jillian Michaels on her “Keeping It Real” podcast, Gaines explained how her husband, fellow University of Kentucky alum Louis Barker of England, was being denied his green card by President Joe Biden’s administration because of a refusal to “complete the COVID-19 vaccine series.”
Recounting a conversation with Trump upon his return to office, she said, “Hey, did you know this mandate, this mandate that I would deem illegal, is still in place nationwide? He said, ‘No, give me two hours.'”
“And literally within two hours, it wasn’t a text or a call, I see a headline that says President Trump vacates nationwide mandate requiring legal immigrants to get the COVID vaccine,” explained Gaines.
BREAKING: @Riley_Gaines_ just revealed President Trump SUSPENDED the nationwide mandate for COVID vaccines for Green Card applicants only 2 HOURS after she told him they were still mandated.
No one works as hard and fast as President Trump!
pic.twitter.com/PeNDLTrUHp— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) October 27, 2025
As she recalled, “We had gone … nearly two and a half years without hearing anything from USCIS or Immigration Services regarding his green card status. And so finally, I start reaching out, inquiring, you know, what’s the holdup.”
“We get a letter — no agency, no department under President Biden could point us in the right direction — until finally we get a letter to our house in big bold letters. It says, evidence requested or something to that effect. And I open it up and it says sorry, we can’t give you your green card because your medical record is not complete … because he didn’t have the COVID vaccine,” the women’s rights defender explained, prompting her to reach out to Trump.
Gaines, currently in an online row with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) over disparate world views, shared her letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Jan. 21 on X and detailed, “Just got another letter from USCIS saying they won’t give my husband his green card until he gets the Covid jab. This is ridiculous. We’ve been married coming up on 3 years. We’ve spent thousands for the submitted forms to expire on their time. We’re hoping for change soon.”
The following day, she shared the message on the USCIS website that read, “USCIS Waives Covid-19 Vaccination Requirement for Adjustments of Status Applicants.”
“HUGE NEWS. Following the below tweet, USCIS has rescinded their Covid vax mandate for legal immigrants. I can’t even tell you the thousands of people in the same situation who have reached out over the past few years,” wrote Gaines. “Promises made, promises kept. Thank you, @realDonaldTrump.”
HUGE NEWS. Following the below tweet, USCIS has rescinded their Covid vax mandate for legal immigrants.
I can’t even tell you the thousands of people in the same situation who have reached out over the past few years.
Promises made, promises kept. Thank you, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/WBn47PgTQS pic.twitter.com/k5cBNnKrOt
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) January 22, 2025
While the left continued to accuse Trump of being anti-immigrant, the young conservative emphasized how much the president had done to facilitate legal immigration compared to the open borders Biden-Harris administration’s coddling of illegal aliens while appearing hell-bent to boot her husband out of the country.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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