WASHINGTON – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become speaker when Democrats take control of the House in January, said the “broken immigration system” must be overhauled – but without giving another dime to President Donald Trump’s “violent mass deportation machine.”
“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.”
“I think that’s something that’s actually doable,” Trump said of bipartisan work on immigration.
Despite talk of
compromise, clashes are still likely over immigration, which remains one of the most polarizing issues between the parties. After Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections, Trump promoted an aide, Stephen Miller, who was the architect of his immigration crackdown, to chief of staff.
“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.
Democrats will try to redirect $75 billion, which provided last year to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through 2029, to other priorities, Jeffries said.
“ICE was given a $75 billion slush fund so that masked agents could brutalize andkill American citizens, and violently target law-abiding immigrant communities,” Jeffries said. “That’s unacceptable.”
Jeffries said a bipartisan action could come as early as November and December – before Democrats gain control of Congress – if Republicans join in supporting the American Dream and Promise Act.
The legislation from Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, would offer permanent-residence status to immigrants who arrived as children or who had temporary protected status that has since been revoked. The immigrants would have to have been in the country since 2021 and would have to pass a background check. Immigrants would qualify by completing education programs, serving in the military or being employed.
“Hopefully some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be willing to do that work,” Jeffries said.
But Republicans largely oppose any move to legalize undocumented immigrants, which they criticize as an amnesty.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he hasn’t changed his immigration policy to get rid of “the worst of the worst,” but that he is working with groups to deal with working immigrants.
“We have a very strong deportation policy,” Trump said. “There is no amnesty.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Dems support immigration fix but not Trump 'deportation machine'
