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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wouldn’t rule out a vote to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement if Democrats retake the House, but downplayed the push for the move from within his own party.
“I’ve spoken to several of the incoming members of Congress across the ideological spectrum,” Jeffries (D-NY) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.. “Not a single person has raised those issues other than, obviously, what they’ve seen from House Democrats in pushing back against an out-of-control ICE.
“We believe that immigration enforcement in this country clearly should be fair, just and humane. And that’s not what’s taking place,” the top House Democrat went on, calling for ICE agents to “conduct themselves like every other cop, police officer and law enforcement agent in the country.”
Numerous Democrats running for House seats in the 2026 midterm cycle on a platform that includes outright abolishing ICE.
Zohran Mamdani-backed candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently bested Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in a primary last month, has called for abolishing ICE and scrubbed past social media posts about abolishing prisons — a position she has yet to clearly disavow.
Jeffries boasted about how Democrats have resisted funding ICE without serious reforms to the immigration enforcement agency, something that led to multiple government shutdowns earlier this year.
The ICE fight has also complicated government funding for the next fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 7. House Republicans passed a measure last week to prevent a government shutdown, but it hasn’t yet gotten through the Senate.
“House Democrats have taken a strong position as it relates to not giving a dime to Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine until, of course, there is dramatic reform in this country,” Jeffries crowed.
At one point, the Democratic leader was pressed about a CNN report about him and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) battling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over his meddling in a primary involving a black Democrat.
Sanders had backed Nida Allam in her unsuccessful March primary against incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC).
“No, I wouldn’t describe it as a clash. It was a candid conversation, along with Congressman Greg Meeks, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, with respect to one particular race in North Carolina,” Jeffries said.
“I do think that Senator Sanders and Democrats in both the House and the Senate understand the stakes that are in front of us, particularly as we are 100 days out, and that’s making sure that we actually take back control of the Congress, so we can end this MAGA extremism,” he added.
