House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Monday 9 November that House Democrats will not give a dime toward funding the Trump administration's deportation efforts, according to Political.org and US Times Mirror. He made the remarks at a press conference on the day Congress returned to Washington for its lame-duck session.
According to Political.org, Jeffries said: "House Democrats have taken the position that we're not going to give a dime to the administration's violent mass deportation machine." He tied the position to affordability, arguing that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, and he criticised the $75 billion in funding given to ICE, which he described as a slush fund.
The remarks come as Democrats prepare to take control of the House in January after sweeping midterm victories on 3 November, according to Political.org. Republicans still hold the gavel until the new Congress is sworn in on 3 January 2027, with Mike Johnson remaining Speaker, according to USNewsPulse. Democrats are also set to vote next week on whether Jeffries should remain in his leadership post.
Jeffries also said the broken immigration system must be overhauled in a comprehensive and bipartisan way, but without funding the administration's deportation operation, according to Political.org. He added that Democrats would still discuss the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, having told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that he is a "hard yes" on the resolution introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie on Monday.
What happens next is a funding fight. Federal funding under the current stopgap runs out on 11 December, according to USNewsPulse, leaving roughly five weeks of lame-duck session to avert a shutdown. The main dispute is defence spending, with the Trump administration seeking a record $1.5 trillion that Senate Democrats reject. Jeffries' stance signals that any funding deal will have to reckon with Democratic opposition to new deportation money.