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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries clashed with left-wing podcast host Wajahat Ali on Friday while facing questions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Speaking with Ali and former MSNBC host Joy Reid during Reid’s show, Jeffries said one of the things Democrats can do right now is to have federal attorneys investigate and prosecute ICE agents, since Republicans control the House and Senate and any action against the agency or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Ali wanted Jeffries to lead a campaign to destroy the entire organization.
“I’m going to be wrong here. Leaders lead, and what we’ve seen is people get carried away. If you lead with something, people will follow. It seems like the wind is behind you for the first time. ICE has a history, CPP has a history of terrorizing black and brown communities,” he said. “People are asking themselves, why are we, our taxpayers, paying masked, lawless men to terrorize our communities, kidnap people, take children and kill Americans?”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2025. Wajahat Ali speaks on stage at the Midnight Theater & Hidden Leaf Restaurant on May 03, 2023 in New York City. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Cindy Ord/Getty Images for BAFTA)
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Someone on the left said, “Why don’t you lead and say get rid of ICE? Because you’re telling us you want our taxpayer dollars to pay for an armed, lawless organization to continue to terrorize our cities. And I’m trying to figure out how you, as a leader, can tell the American people that their taxpayer dollars should go to ICE.”
Jeffries replied, “I don’t understand anything you just said.”
Ali then said, “I spoke English.”
The attorney said he made it clear that American tax dollars should be put toward making things more affordable, rather than brutalizing or killing them, referring to ICE.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, speaks during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“Listen, I’m going to use the language I want to use. You can use the language you want to use,” Jeffries told Ali. “And the language that I’m using right now has to do with these kinds of bold, meaningful changes that are designed to save lives right now in communities that look like the ones that I represent, and that’s the goal.”
Calls to end ICE have increased within the left wing of the Democratic Party after the shooting of Alex Pretti by a border patrol agent in Minneapolis.
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Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, left, and Senate Minerals Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, walk to speak to members of the media following a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We have to reform ICE. But look at this section, folks, ICE is more than reform,” said Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar in January. “ICE is completely out of control, and this week I intend to introduce a bill to abolish ICE.”
Democratic leaders, including Jeffries, shared a list of demands for ICE reform earlier this month, insisting they be added to the DHS funding bill.
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A list of demands is included, banning masks, requiring ID for agents, supporting the use of energy standards, and ensuring coordination and supervision of the region and area, among others.
