Ivanka Trump: We must foster economic opportunity in Latin America

Amid the controversy over the United States’ immigration policies, Ivanka Trump said she agrees with many people on both sides of the political aisle that the nation must help encourage stability, economic growth, and job prospects throughout Latin America.

The eldest daughter of President Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that she has already taken steps to cultivate this shared, bipartisan value — namely, by launching 2X Americas in the Peruvian capital of Lima.

On April 15, the first daughter announced the creation of 2X Americas, a U.S.-led initiative that is intended to commit $150 million and facilitate a total of $500 million for providing women in Central America and South America with access to capital and other economic opportunities. She said women face a $300 billion shortfall in access to credit.

“We want to work with our private sector partners to marshal the capital needed to finally close this persistent credit gap, so that [for] every dollar we invest, up to three private sector dollars will be mobilized,” she said at a news conference. “2X Americas will empower women in Latin America. And when women succeed, families succeed, communities succeed, and countries succeed.”

2X Americas is a project of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a U.S.-government financial institution that mobilizes private capital to face critical development challenges and advance the United States’ other foreign policy objectives. OPIC’s president and CEO, Ray W. Washburne, and businesswomen were by her side at a Summit of the Americas conference during the announcement.

That Ivanka Trump referred back to her 2X Americas announcement now — during the extraordinary backlash over the Trump administration’s handling of immigration — suggests that she views these issues as connected. Her message appears to be that it is not possible to understand what’s happening at the border without understanding the economic and safety concerns of the countries migrants are leaving.

Her father was also on Twitter on Sunday morning discussing issues pertaining to the United States’ southern neighbors, but his points had more to do with immigration policies. He called upon Democrats to stop resisting and to “fix the laws.” He had incorrectly blamed Democrats for his administration’s tactic of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, before signing an executive order to stop the practice. The family separations were in fact the result of his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal immigration, which refers every migrant crossing the border illegally for criminal prosecution.

He insisted that the United States needs “strength and security” at the border and cannot accept people “trying to break into our Country” — once again connecting undocumented immigrants with crime.

According to Trump, the United States’ immigration policy has turned the nation into a laughing stock around the globe, and the current system is an affront to people who immigrated into the country legally. He said the United States cannot allow “these people to invade our Country.”