Ivanka urged Trump to address family separation

US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump urged her father to end family separations on the US-Mexico border, US media reported.

Ivanka has made no public comment on the issue, but Trump told lawmakers during a meeting Tuesday evening that she had broached the issue with him, CNN and the Washington Post reported.

Congressman Chris Collins said Trump mentioned his daughter had "seen the images" and said they should deal with the crisis "for a lot of reasons," according to CNN.

"He mentioned that his daughter Ivanka had encouraged him to end this and he said he does recognize that it needs to end and the images are painful and he's looking for a legislative solution," CNN reported Florida congressman Carlos Curbelo as saying.

"He discussed the optics and the policy itself, and I think he's not comfortable with either."

Meanwhile, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported on Twitter that Trump quoted Ivanka as saying: "Daddy, what are we doing about this?"

Hours after Trump doubled down on his administration's "zero tolerance" approach that triggers separations of migrant children from their parents, Republican lawmakers emerged from the huddle energized that he would back legislation that House leaders expect to bring to a vote this week.

But even after the meeting, it was unclear which of two rival immigration bills being brought by Republicans Trump favours.

White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump "endorsed both House immigration bills" during the meeting, adding that they "solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal."