Even CNN Is Questioning Hakeem Jeffries Shutdown Strategy

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—CNN’s Dana Bash pointed out to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday that a partial government shutdown over Democrats’ demands for restrictions on enforcement by federal agents would primarily affect agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Despite Democrats’ new list of demands for Republicans to avoid a shutdown, President Donald Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act already provided substantial funding to the Department of Homeland Security.

During their “State of the Union” interview, Bash asked Jeffries how a shutdown would advance Democrats’ goal to “rein” in immigration agencies under DHS if it would disrupt others whose missions were not focused on immigration enforcement operations.

“Well, our plan is to get there on behalf of the American people. That’s why we need to press forward aggressively and ensure that there are legislative changes enacted as part of any DHS spending bill, because that’s the way that you change behavior,” Jeffries said. “And these are commonsense changes, things like mandatory body cameras. Judicial warrants should absolutely be required before ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents can storm private property and rip everyday Americans out of their homes in such a violent fashion.”

“Of course, we need to make sure that there are no masks, so that ICE is conducting itself like every other law enforcement agency in the country. That shouldn’t be controversial,” Jeffries added. “It shouldn’t be controversial that we are demanding that the Fourth Amendment constitutional protections are adhered to as it relates to the way in which ICE is conducting itself.”

In July 2025, Congress passed the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, thoroughly funding federal law enforcement agencies. The approved bill set aside an estimated $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, and roughly $75 billion in supplemental funding for ICE.

With recent protests against ICE agents in major blue cities like Minneapolis after the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, however, Democrats have doubled down on their pushback against DHS and ICE.

Jeffries went on to add that state and local officials should be able to conduct independent investigations against ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who “violate the law.”

“We also need to make sure that state and local officials have the ability to conduct independent investigations, so that, when ICE or CBP or other officers violate the law, they can be investigated and prosecuted and held accountable for those violations of state and local law, not being able to govern themselves with impunity, which is the case right now,” Jeffries stated.

While Jeffries has been vocal on Democrats remaining firm in their stance, nearly two dozen party members broke with the House minority leader Tuesday to pass a sprawling funding package, ending a four-day government shutdown. While the package reopened most of the government for the year, however, DHS received only a short-term continuing resolution thorough Feb. 13.

Included in their list of demands for DHS, Democrats want federal agents to wear body cams, ban face coverings, require judicial warrants, and improve use of force standards.

Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

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