Hakeem Jeffries does not rule out calls to defund ICE ahead of 2026 midterms

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday did not rule out the possibility of supporting the Democrat Party’s calls to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s mass deportations.

Many House Democrats have floated the idea of using the appropriations process to defund parts of ICE and make major changes to the agency if they reclaim the House after the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffries told “The View” that the House needs to take “aggressive” steps to interfere with Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants who have committed egregious crimes and accused the administration of targeting non-criminals.

“Some Democrats amid the criticisms of ICE right now due to these ICE raids have started calling for defunding ICE. Do you think that’s effective going into the midterms and do you support those calls?” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked.

“We need aggressive oversight as it relates to the overly aggressive behavior that we’ve seen,” Jeffries said. “From ICE, to the Department of Homeland Security. It’s not what the American people actually, in my view, voted for. Donald Trump and Republicans promised to go after violent felons. But instead, they’re going after law abiding immigrant families. And in fact, in some cases, deporting American citizens and children. Some with cancer. And America is better than this and that’s the reality.”

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Since Trump will be in office until 2029, he would have the power to veto congressional Democrats’ attempts to slash funding for ICE.

The Democrat leader referred to the misleading reports that the administration deported American citizen children born to illegal immigrant mothers. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported illegal immigrant mothers who decided to take their seven, four and two children, who were U.S. citizens, along with them.

Trump signed the “big, beautiful bill” into law on Friday, which provided $100 billion to border security. The funding includes $46.5 billion to complete the construction of the border wall, $45 billion to expand detention capacity and $30 billion for hiring and training new ICE agents.

Jeffries gave an 8-hour-long “magic minute” speech on the House floor Thursday to delay a vote on the bill, which he called a “disgusting abomination” and a “GOP tax scam.” He warned that the passage of the legislation would cause “tens of thousands” of Americans to die because of its changes to Medicaid, which imposed work requirements on able-bodied adults younger than 65 and limited state provider taxes.

The political left’s staunch opposition to ICE has led to concerns about agents’ safety. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated on June 20 that ICE agents were facing a 500% increase in assaults while carrying out their duties, and families have been doxed and targeted. Joshua Aaron, who describes himself as a “proud Antifa” on social media, told CNN that he created an app to act as an “early warning system” to help people avoid ICE operations, which border czar Tom Homan said is an endangerment to agents.

An active shooter with a rifle and tactical gear shot at Border Patrol agents at an annex facility in Texas on Monday, leading to the injury of one officer.

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