Hakeem Jeffries: After The Midterm Elections, “We’ll Have A Conversation About What Dramatic Change Looks Like”
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) explains why the Democratic Party isn’t going left. Jeffries spoke on Tuesday outside of a New Jersey ICE detention facility and called for it to be shut down.
REPORTER: I was okay the first time around. So given the DSA wins that we’re seeing in these primaries across the country, how should the Democratic Party, your party, your leadership, pivot and change to respond to voters what they’re telling you about what they’re thinking? How should the party change? HOUSE MINORITY LEADER REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, the 215 members of the House Democratic Caucus, when we are at full strength, we expect that that number will grow in the aftermath of the midterm elections that are going to take place on November 3rd. And of course, we’ll have a conversation about what dramatic change looks like in terms of the immigration enforcement that’s taking place in this country. And as I’ve mentioned repeatedly, because this is what unites the entirety of the House Democratic Caucus family from progressive to New Dems to Blue Dogs and all points in between, because it unites the country, is that immigration enforcement should be fair, just, and humane in this country. We do want a safe and secure and strong border. That’s also, of course, incredibly important to the American people. And we have a broken immigration system, and it needs to be fixed. And it should be fixed in a comprehensive and bipartisan way. And so we’ve got an immigration working group that is being led by Chairman Pete Aguilar, who has convened every aspect of the House Democratic Caucus to specifically articulate both our values and our policy proposals with respect to the type of dramatic change that is necessary.
