Donald Trump’s ex-wife has described immigrants as thieves and rapists in a controversial TV interview this week.

“A lot of people, they don’t dress even American, they dress in whatever they dress in and they don’t get jobs and they steal and they rape the women,” Ivana Trump said in a guest appearance on US talk show, Loose Women. 

“I have absolutely no problem with the immigrants, but they have to come to the country legally.

“They have to get a job, they have to pay taxes like the rest of Americans and just live and be well and just mesh into society.

“People that don’t want to work and which just want to come to America and get the benefits and get the food stamps and sleep on the benches, this is what we don’t want.”

Ivana praised her ex-husband’s tough stance on immigration. Photo: Getty 

Despite being a Czechoslovakian immigrant herself, Ivana, 71, commended her former husband’s anti-immigration efforts in the White House as being “pro everything I believe in”.

“He is Republican and so am I – he’s achieved so much, especially with immigration.”

But the cheerleading didn’t end there.

Ivana also spoke of her high hopes that daughter Ivanka would follow in her father’s footsteps and take up the top job.

“I tell you, I think, she’s in the White House every day, you know?” Ivana said.

“She’s next to her father every day. She knows all what is going around.

“I think she could be one day the first woman president, definitely. She’s smart as hell, she’s beautiful, she’s au courant. How much more you can have?”

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand onstage during a “Salute to America” event at the White House.

When asked about Melania, Ivana claimed the two did not have a relationship, but said she seemed quiet in her role as First Lady.

“I don’t get involved with the ex-wives and his private life. We talk about our children, sometimes we talk about economics … but we don’t talk about the ex-wives.

“She is very quiet, and she doesn’t really go to too many places. She goes to stuff when she has to go, but she’s quiet,” Ivana said.

Three weddings and a fascist fixation…

Ivana’s propensity to publicise details about the Trumps has often put them at the centre of media storms.

The two were married from 1977 until 1992 and had three children together: Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric.

In 1990, Ivana claimed her husband kept a collection of speeches written by Adolf Hitler, titled My New Order – a claim Trump denied.

“If I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them,” he said at the time.

Ivana also claimed that John Walter, Trump’s cousin, would often greet him with a “heil Hitler”.

In 1992, the couple split after a widely publicised cheating scandal with Marla Maples, who Trump went on to marry the following year – just two months after she gave birth to his daughter, Tiffany.

The marriage lasted until 1997 when they separated, with their divorce finalised in 1999.

Trump, Maples and daughter Tiffany frequented Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Photo: Getty 

During the time of his first divorce, Ivana claimed she had been raped by Trump while they were married – a claim she later recanted.

“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me,” Ivana said in a statement in 1993.

“[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.

“As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

First mother? Ivana hopes daughter Ivanka will be the first female president. Photo: Getty

In July 2015, just over one month after Trump announced he would enter the 2016 election, Ivana released a statement backtracking once more.

“I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald,” she said in a statement.

“The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of.”