WATCH: Jeffries Refuses To Rule Out Open Borders Position Ahead Of 2026 Midterms

During an appearance on “The View,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) refused to rule out a radical open borders policy that could be adopted by Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

When asked whether he will embrace calls from the Democratic Party base to defund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the House Democrat leader said he will certainly be considering it.

“Now some Democrats amid the criticisms of ICE right now due to these ICE raids have started calling for defunding ICE. Do you think that’s effective going into the midterms and do you support those calls?” Jeffries was asked by “The View” co-host Alyssa Farrah Griffin.

“Well, I definitely think that we need aggressive oversight as it relates to the overly aggressive behavior that we’ve seen, you know, from ICE, from the Department of Homeland Security. It’s not what the American people actually, in my view, voted for,” Jeffries said. The statement may not be accurate, however, as a number of left-leaning pollsters have measured widespread support for mass deportations of all illegal aliens.

This includes the New York Times (54%), Marquette (64%), CBS News (57%) and ABC News (56%). Despite overwhelming support for deportations, Jeffries went on to make a number of hyperbolic and outright false claims about President Trump’s deportation strategy.

“Donald Trump and Republicans promised to go after violent felons, but instead they’re going after law-abiding immigrant families. And in fact, in some cases, deporting American citizens and children, some with cancer,” he said. “And America’s better than this. And that’s the reality.”

The House minority leader ultimately refused to rule out adopting defunding ICE as a policy position should Democrats retake the House in 2026, instead opting to deliver a Kamala Harris-style “word salad.”

Defunding ICE has indeed become an increasingly popular policy position among some factions within the House Democratic Party conference.

“You’ve got a situation where our base is demanding more and more of us every day,” one House Democrat told Axios on the condition of anonymity. The lawmaker added that “a number of us have been told by constituents that we have to be willing to get shot” while trying to enter ICE facilities and “be able to make news out of it.”

Senior Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee signaled that ICE spending will be singled out should Democrats manage to retake control of the chamber, which they widely expected to do as of this report. “There will be a review of everything … looking at what are the kinds of things we can do to get our government back on track,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the panel’s ranking member.

Other Democrats have been hesitant to embrace such rhetoric over fears that it could embolden extremists, as evidenced by Monday’s ambush shooting that injured a Border Patrol officer and resulted in the death of the gunman.