Trump immigration plan tackles problem 'that has not been touched' in 54 years: Kellyanne Conway

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Kellyanne Conway: Congress failed to act on immigration

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway on Trump's merit-based immigration plan on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

President Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway appeared on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday night to promote the administration's "two-point" plan to address illegal immigration -- accusing some in Congress of being invested in the "status quo."

"There's two points to the president's big proposal," Conway told host Laura Ingraham. "Full and final border security, which he's been talking about for four years he's been running for and being president. The second part is the modernization and merit-based immigration system."

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Trump on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited immigration overhaul that would dramatically alter how the U.S. accepts people into the country, upending the system in order to favor job skills rather than family ties.

Ingraham asked Conway if the immigration platform was meant as an issue for Republicans to run on in 2020 but the president's counselor made it clear it was about fixing a problem now.

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"This is not a 2020 document. If the Congress can act now we're interested in 2019. In addition to full border security, also this modernizes a system that has not been touched since 1965 -- fifty-four years," Conway said.

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Conway also criticized members of Congress, some of whom she said were "invested in the status quo."

"And also we want to shine a light [on the fact that] nobody in Congress has bothered to touch the legal immigration system in 54 years. Why is that?  Because some of them are invested in the status quo," Conway said. "They pretend they're worried about the children, they pretend they're worried about the families."