House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced his big plan to fight back against ICE’s lawless rampage: he wants to ban something that’s already illegal.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Speaking at a Capitol press briefing Thursday, Jeffries announced that Democrats will demand a ban on deporting American citizens as a condition for supporting Department of Homeland Security funding.
“In what country are we living in if it’s controversial to prohibit [the deportation] of American citizens?” Jeffries said. “That shouldn’t even be a discussion.”
He’s right—it shouldn’t be a discussion. Because it’s already against the law.
THE DETAILS: Deporting American citizens is prohibited under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which explicitly covers only noncitizens. It also violates a 1958 Supreme Court ruling that found stripping citizenship constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. This isn’t some legal gray area—it’s settled law.
BUT BUT BUT: The Trump administration is doing it anyway. Federal agents have been sweeping up American citizens in their dragnet immigration enforcement, deporting people who have every legal right to be here. The law already says they can’t do this. They’re doing it anyway. See the problem?
Senate Democrats aren’t doing much better. They’ve proposed reforms like requiring body cameras, banning masks, and enforcing a new code of conduct. All well and good—except ICE is already breaking laws far more fundamental than dress codes.
WHY IT MATTERS: This is what happens when one party operates completely outside the law while the other responds by… proposing more laws.
The cruelties of Trump’s immigration crackdown aren’t subject to reform because they’re already lawless. You can’t legislate your way out of an administration that simply ignores legislation.
Jeffries also threatened to maybe possibly one day start impeachment proceedings against Kristi Noem, saying “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
As one person put it: “What are you waiting for?”
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Democrats are essentially asking nicely for federal agencies to please stop killing American citizens in the streets. Meanwhile, they’re still negotiating over funding for the very department carrying out these operations. That’s not resistance—that’s conscience-soothing theater.
Democrats are severely underestimating how angry their base is.