House Democrats Back an Immigration Fix but Say They Won't Fund Trump's 'Deportation Machine'
Hakeem Jeffries says the broken system needs a comprehensive, bipartisan overhaul — and that House Democrats will try to redirect ICE's $75 billion rather than fund what he calls a violent mass deportation machine.
WASHINGTON — The president opened a door on immigration this weekend. The man in line to run the House walked through it Monday — carrying his own terms. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the 'broken immigration system' must be overhauled, but without giving another dime to President Donald Trump's 'violent mass deportation machine,' USA TODAY reported.
'We have a broken immigration system,' Jeffries, D-New York, told reporters at the Capitol. 'It needs to be fixed in a comprehensive way. In a divided government, it needs to be fixed in a bipartisan way.' His comments came after Trump told CBS' '60 Minutes,' in an interview that aired Nov. 8, that his strict deportation policy had been 'too tough' and that bipartisan work on immigration was 'actually doable.'
Jeffries put a price tag on the disagreement: Democrats will try to redirect the $75 billion provided last year to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through 2029 to other priorities, he said. 'House Democrats have taken the position that we're not going to give a dime to the administration's violent mass deportation machine because taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people,' Jeffries said.
He also named a clock. Bipartisan action could come as early as November and December — before Democrats take control of Congress in January — if Republicans join in supporting the American Dream and Promise Act, the bill from Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, which would offer permanent-residence status to immigrants who arrived as children or who held temporary protected status that has since been revoked, for those in the country since 2021 who pass a background check and qualify through education, military service or employment.
The other side has not moved. Republicans largely oppose any move to legalize undocumented immigrants, which they criticize as an amnesty, and Trump told reporters at the White House that he has not changed his immigration policy of removing 'the worst of the worst': 'We have a very strong deportation policy. There is no amnesty.' The talk of compromise also sits beside a personnel move pointing the other way — after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterms, Trump promoted Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration crackdown, to chief of staff.
