Chicago, Aug 18 (IANS): Ami Gandhi, an Indian American public policy expert, has been named to a committee formed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make President Barack Obama's home town the "most immigrant friendly city in the world".

The Office of New Americans (ONA) Advisory Committee has been asked to generate recommendations, develop strategies, and present an overall vision to promote the city's economic vitality and ensure global competitiveness for doing so.

Since 2011, Gandhi has served as executive director of South Asian American Policy & Research Institute that was established in 2001 to improve the lives of South Asian Americans in the Chicago area by using research to formulate equitable and socially responsible public policy.

Gandhi works with a broad spectrum of organizations across Chicago. Besides ONA and the advisory board of Common Cause Illinois, she is a volunteer attorney for Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services, which runs a legal aid hotline for low income residents of Cook County.

Announcing the formation of the committee, Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, praised the president's executive order to give qualified undocumented young people a break from deportation and a two-year work permit as long as they came to America with their parents when they were children.

"I applaud President Obama for making strides that will not only help the City of Chicago grow, but will give families and students across the country a better chance of achieving the American Dream," he said.

The ONA Advisory Committee is formed by 50 individuals who represent Chicago's business, academia, civic, philanthropic, and community leaders. Divided into eight subgroups, it will identify immigrant challenges, strategies and potential solutions.