LEADER JEFFRIES ON MS NOW: "WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE IN THIS FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN THIS FIGHT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW's Velshi, where he made clear that House Democrats will not support any legislation that allows Donald Trump and Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security to use taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens.
ALI VELSHI: Joining us now is Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Representative Jeffries, good to see you again. Thank you for being with us this morning.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning.
ALI VELSHI: Number one on your list of demands is something you're calling targeted enforcement, which includes making it explicit that federal agents can't just enter private property without a judicial warrant. Talk to me about this. I would assume that your colleagues across the aisle would agree with that. This is not a Democratic or a Republican concept, it's a Constitution concept.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's exactly right. It's an American concept. The Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures has been a part of our fabric since the very beginning of our constitutional Republic. It's incredible to us that Republicans have decided to draw a hard line in the sand. Our view on this is pretty clear. Judicial warrants should be required before ICE agents or any DHS personnel can storm private property, rip Americans out of their homes or brutalize people as we're seeing on the streets of American towns, cities and villages. This is a pretty straightforward concept. We also believe that there has to be an end to roving patrols. Donald Trump promised that the administration was going to target violent felons who are here in the country illegally. That's not what is being done. And we need to end the violence, end the brutality and end the killing of American citizens, in part by protecting sensitive locations like houses of worship, schools, hospitals and polling locations. And we also need to make sure that there are independent investigations. Pam Bondi cannot be trusted to investigate or prosecute ICE agents who violate the law.
ALI VELSHI: You talk about polling locations. This becomes very relevant to a lot of people because if you believe that ICE and CBP and federal agents are just out there randomly arresting people, A, that could impede your ability to cast a ballot. There are primaries going on for the next several months and then we've got an election. And B, if you believe that even as an American citizen, you're not particularly safe, that means, you know, for people who are a little worried about going to vote, this feels like it's not about immigration enforcement only, it's about scaring people about being out in public.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Republicans are on the run politically all across the country. They're losing in states, whether that are red states, blue states or purple states. We've just seen Republicans experience devastating losses in back-to-back weekends in Texas and in Louisiana, overperforming the 2024 Trump numbers in Texas by 31 points and then in Louisiana by 37 points. So Republicans have clearly come to the conclusion that they cannot win a free and fair election and they've adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy, which is one of the reasons why we are making sure that there is a clear separation between DHS and immigration enforcement activities that they undertake, which need to be fair and just and humane and the ability for state and local officials to ensure that there are free and fair elections in the November midterm.
ALI VELSHI: So this sounds, there's an overlap between everything you just said and the SAVE Act, which just passed the House, probably won't pass the Senate, but the point is, the SAVE Act is different from voter suppression, things we've talked about in prior years. The Republicans would like you to believe it's just about photo ID. It's much more significant and complicated than that.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's absolutely correct. And with respect to photo identification, every state has different requirements. New York State, for instance, has a photo identification requirement that's been on the books and that has been administered fairly to allow people to continue to exercise their right to vote. This should remain a state issue. But the so-called SAVE Act is not about free and fair elections. This is spin. It's a cover story because it actually would require states and localities, elections officials in those places, to hand over information to DHS. Why in the world would we allow that to happen when Donald Trump has explicitly said he's trying to find a back door path to nationalizing the elections? We're not going to let it happen.
ALI VELSHI: Congressman, talk to me about this reporting this week about Kristi, I'm sorry, about Kristi Noem and the mess that the Department of Homeland Security is in. You've actually talked about the fact, and others have talked about the fact that she should be impeached from her role.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's absolutely correct. Kristi Noem is a disgrace. She's corrupt. She's unqualified. She's a stone-cold liar. How dare this woman say about two patriotic Americans, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, that they were domestic terrorists, when the American people know otherwise. And so, our view is why is Kristi Noem still around? Alex Pretti was killed on January 24 in cold blood. She should have been fired that very same day. And as House Democrats, we are prepared to move forward with impeachment proceedings, since it appears that Donald Trump has no interest in ensuring that Kristi Noem has accountability because of her clear failures. At the same period of time, You can't just change personnel. They have to change policy. And the only way to ensure that ICE is actually reined in and brought under control consistent with what the American people would like to see, is to change things dramatically, boldly, meaningfully, through legislation. And that's what this shutdown showdown is all about.
ALI VELSHI: So this is an interesting point. You can't just change personnel, you have to change policy. I think that's really important to remember because these are Donald Trump's policies that Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth and RFK are carrying out. So how do you think about that? Because people would like to see some people held to account for what they do, but Pam Bondi, that was some wild testimony before the House this week. Pete Hegseth is trying everything he can to prosecute six Members of Congress who have told members of the military that they don't have to follow illegal orders. There's a measles outbreak in Florida. RFK's policies are at play there. So how do you address that? How do you, as a party, think about the fact that there are bad people doing bad things at Donald Trump's bidding? What's the fix for that, other than the elections in November?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we definitely have to use every legislative tool available to us to continue to aggressively push back against Donald Trump, Republicans and their extreme policies. And we've had some success, of course, in the House of Representatives, pushing back against them, forcing the issue of the Epstein Files into the public domain and actually passing legislation that Donald Trump was compelled to sign into law. And that's an ongoing effort to ensure that there's transparency and accountability related to what the survivors have boldly called for. We've been able to successfully push back against them in the House and force an up-and-down vote that was successful on a three-year straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits to try to save the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans and we continue to press our case now in the Senate. Most recently, in this past week, we were able to overturn one of Trump's tariffs that had been imposed, we believe, unlawfully and recklessly on Canada, part of the Trump tariffs that have been raising costs on everyday Americans, when Donald Trump promised to lower the cost of living on day one. Costs, of course, aren't going down, they're going up and part of reason are the Trump tariffs. So it's an all-hands-on-deck effort, legislatively, in terms of us pushing back. We have to continue to push back in the courts and when Donald Trump has crossed the line, as this administration has done repeatedly, sue the heck out of him and continue to win more cases than have been lost. And then ultimately, the hearts and minds of the American people have to be won over as we've been doing electorally, including taking back the House and the Senate in November.
ALI VELSHI: Let's talk about that. As the wind blow now, a House Democratic success looks like a possibility. But until then, there's this tiny little lead that the Republicans have in the House, and you just outlined a few examples where some Republicans have moved over. There are probably at least 20 Republicans who are in danger in November, and probably more. Do those end up being negotiations? Are you talking to these Republicans who come over and vote with Democrats or are they talking to their constituents and acting because of that?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's certainly the case that public pressure is creating an environment where Republicans are being increasingly compelled to break with the extremism of Donald Trump and vote with us in a common sense fashion as we continue to do everything that we can as Democrats to drive down the high cost of living, to fix our broken healthcare system and now to make sure that immigration enforcement is fair, is just and humane, and we can get ICE under control, end the violence, end the brutality, end the killing of American citizens. We are having Member-to-Member conversations on given issues, and I think that we'll continue to do that. But it will be anchored in values that are consistent with making life better for the American people. This my-way-or-the-highway approach that Republicans and Donald Trump adopted from January 20 of last year, that's done. That's over. That's gotten them nowhere. And our view is that we're going to continue to be in this fight until we win this fight for the American people. And if Republicans want to join us, all the better.
ALI VELSHI: Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, good to see you. Thank you for joining us. The House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Full interview can be watched here.