Hakeem Jeffries clashes with podcast host Wajahat Ali over ICE abolish demand

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries clashed with left-wing podcast host Wajahat Ali on Friday as he faced questions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A conversation with Ali and former MSNBC host Joy Reid During Reid’s showJeffries argued that one of the most actionable things Democrats can do now is to make it so state attorneys general can 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) would require Republican support.

Ali wanted Jeffries to lead the effort to eliminate the agency all together.

“I’m going to be a little blunt here. Leaders lead, and what we’re seeing is that people are impressionable. If you lead something, people will follow you. It seems like for the first time the wind is at your back. ICE has a history, CPP has a history of terrorizing Black and Brown communities,” he said. “People ask themselves: Why do we, the taxpayers, pay masked vigilantes to terrorize our communities, kidnap people, take children, and kill Americans?”

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The left-winger said: “Why don’t you take the lead and abolish ICE? Because what you’re telling us is that you want our taxpayer dollars to be paid to a lawless mass shooting agency to continue terrorizing our cities. And I’m trying to understand how you, as a leader, can tell Americans that taxpayer dollars should go to ICE.”

Jeffries shot back and said, “I didn’t understand anything you just said.”

Ali later added, “I spoke English.”

Citing ICE, the lawmaker argued that it has made it clear that American tax dollars should be spent on making jobs more affordable, rather than brutalizing or killing them.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday, February 6, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Jeffries told Ali, “Listen, I’ll use the language I want to use. You can use the language you want to use.” “And the language I’m using right now is about these kinds of bold, meaningful, dramatic changes designed to save lives in communities that look like the communities I represent, and that’s the goal.”

Calls to abolish ICE have grown on the left wing of the Democratic Party following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis.

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Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (L) of New York and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York walk to speak with members of the media after a meeting at the White House on September 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We must reform ICE. But it appears, friends, that ICE is beyond reform,” Democratic Representative Shri Thanedar said in January. “ICE is completely out of control, and I am considering introducing a bill this week that would abolish ICE.”

Democratic leaders, including Jeffries, shared a list of demands for reforms to ICE earlier this month, insisting they be included in the DHS funding bill.

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Demands included banning masks, requiring ID for agents, upholding use-of-force standards and ensuring state and local coordination and oversight.