House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Sunday morning that his caucus would meet Sunday afternoon to determine how it would proceed onfunding for the Department of Homeland Security, but he said the agency should be "dramatically reformed."
"ICE agents should conduct themselves like every other law enforcement agency in the country as opposed to running around -- masked thugs, in many instances unleashing brutality on law-abiding American citizens," Jeffries told ABC News' This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The Senate on Friday passed a package of five funding bills butstripped out a DHS funding billand passed a two-week continuing resolution to consider reforms to its immigration enforcement operation after the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis.
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The bills were to be taken up in the House when it returns on Monday but Jeffries said Saturday he informed House Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats would not help Republicans fast-track the package to force a debate on the DHS funding bill, which would push the vote to Tuesday.
Jeffries on Sunday called the Senate agreement a "meaningful step in the right direction."
"What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed," Jeffries said. "We share that view, as does Leader [Chuck] Schumer and Senate Democrats in a variety of different ways."
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Jeffries said the Democrats have clear demands for reforming ICE's immigration operation: requiring agents to wear body cameras, to be unmasked during operations and to require judicial warrants before making any arrests. Asked by Stephanopoulos if he could trust the Trump administration to enforce these changes, even if enacted by Congress, Jeffries said that he would leave enforcement to the courts.
"[The Trump administration has] been lawless from the very beginning. It's one of the reasons why we need to actually build these strict requirements in terms of behavior into the law so that the courts can hold them accountable," Jeffries said.
He had other stern characterizations about the Trump administration Sunday, calling it "untrustworthy" and said it is "unleashing brutality against the American people" using taxpayer funds, following the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis last month.
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Sunday's interview also came two days after the Justice Department released over 3 million pages from the Jeffrey Epstein case. The release came more than a month after the deadline set by Congress to release all files in the Justice Department's possession.
Jeffries was still not satisfied Sunday, telling Stephanopoulos that the Justice Department is withholding millions of documents.
"There are more than 3 million documents that are being withheld by the Department of Injustice," Jeffries said. "And so the question ... that the American people are asking is what are they hiding from the American people, and who are they protecting?"
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Stephanopoulos Sunday that the Justice Department is still waiting for a judge to authorize the release of a small number of files, but said the review of files was "over" and that the Department had "nothing to hide."
