Melania Trump made a rare and dramatic public appearance to welcome new U.S. citizens as she told them of her own deeply personal journey to becoming an American.

The former first lady gave a heartfelt speech celebrating 25 new citizens from 25 countries in a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives in Washington D.C.

Dressed in a black pantsuit, Melania told them how she had determinedly pursued her own American dream.

She said reaching the 'milestone of citizenship' had marked the 'sunrise of certainty' in her life.

'You are American,' she told the new citizens, adding that they should be 'proud' and to 'stand your ground'.

Melania arrived in American from Slovenia in 1996 and became a U.S. citizen 10 years later.

She spoke as her husband campaigns for a second term in the White House although she made no mention of him in her remarks. 

Should he win, Donald Trump would enact an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration, the New York Times reported last month, that would sharply restrict both legal and illegal immigration.

His plans include using the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to carry out sweeping raids across the country and return to his ban of entry by people from certain Muslim-majority nations, and re-imposing a Covid 19-era policy of refusing asylum claims.