Ivanka Trump urges Congress to act on immigration

US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump has urged Congress to act on immigration and called the fate of immigrants who have been covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme a "very complicated issue".

"You do have the question of the Dreamers: 800,000 young people, most of whom are under 25, most of whom are women. What role should the Dreamers be playing in the future workforce?" moderator Nina Easton asked the First Daughter during a panel discussion on Monday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit.

"This is a very complicated issue that needs a long-term congressional fix," she said, prompting murmurs from the audience, which included female business powerhouses, including iconic designer Diane Von Furstenberg and and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Monday's response was the first time Ivanka Trump has addressed the topic of immigration since her father took office, usually opting to stay away from controversial political topics, CNN reported.

President Trump has announced that he would end the DACA, which protects young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children , at the beginning of last month, but gave Congress a six-month window in which to act to make the program permanent.

Ivanka Trump echoed her father's public statements on the future of the DACA programme, and called on Congress to act.

"I personally am of the opinion and the President has stated that we have to figure out a good solution that protects these innocent people, many of whom were brought into this country as children.

"There has to be a long-term fix and it cannot be bandaged over at a presidential level through another executive order that can be rescinded through another administration," she said in the panel discussion.

On Sunday night, the White House released an aggressive list of priorities for a deal to protect young undocumented immigrants, including tough border security and immigration enforcement measures, reports CNN.

"Our system is flawed, and it is not equipped to handle the challenges, and our visa programme is deeply flawed. We're not retaining the best talent for the jobs that we need and that has to fundamentally be reconsidered," Ivanka Trump said.

On Monday, she also pointed to the lack of affordable child care as "enormously prohibitive to women in the workforce," saying it was something she's working to tackle with the administration's push on tax reform.

--IANS

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