House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he supports bringing deported DACA recipients back to the U.S. and providing what he called “remedial assistance,” prompting critics to accuse him of wanting to pay deported immigrants.

Jeffries replied “certainly” when asked during a “PBS NewsHour” interview whether he would support bringing deported DACA recipients back to the U.S. He also said those he believes were treated unfairly by the Trump administration should receive “remedial assistance.”

“Anyone, whether they are a citizen, whether they were here lawfully, whether they’re DACA recipients, who’ve been treated unfairly and unjustly by the administration, we need to provide remedial assistance to them and undo the damage that’s been done to the country, to law-abiding immigrant families and to the American people over this last 20 months or so,” Jeffries told PBS News.

JEFFRIES VOWS DEMOCRATS WON’T ‘GIVE A DIME’ TO TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS

DACA offers eligible immigrants brought to the country illegally as children temporary protection from deportation and the ability to apply for work authorization, but does not grant legal immigration status, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Jeffries did not specify whether the “remedial assistance” he proposed would include financial compensation. His office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Wednesday.

Podcaster Benny Johnson similarly criticized Jeffries in a social media post on Wednesday, alleging that Democrats “always put foreigners before Americans.”

“Hakeem Jeffries says he wants to re-import DACA recipients that have already been deported and pay them,” Johnson said. “This is the future under Democrat control. They will always put foreigners before Americans.”

“DISGUSTING: Incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) supports bringing back DEPORTED DACA recipients and providing them with money and assistance to ‘undo the damage that’s been done to the country,'” conservative account Red Wave Press added on X.

“Hakeem Jeffries wants to bring back deported DACA recipients and pay them. Under far-left control, American citizens will always come second and be expected to pay for it. Every. Single. Time,” another X user posted.

“EVERY TIME Dems want any form of amnesty, it’s to make them voters, and use those voters to open the floodgate, then get citizenship to millions more,” Eric Daugherty, chief content officer of Florida’s Voice, claimed Wednesday in an X post responding to Jeffries’ remarks.

Jeffries also claimed during the interview that the U.S. currently has a “broken immigration system” that “needs to be fixed.”

BORDER DEM POISED TO WIELD ICE PURSE STRINGS REJECTS SOCIALIST ‘DEFUND’ PUSH

“Well, certainly, on the immigration front, we have a broken immigration system. It needs to be fixed,” Jeffries said. “It should be fixed in a comprehensive way.”

“Immigration enforcement should be fair, just and humane,” the New York Democrat added. “We’re not going to provide a dime to the administration’s violent mass deportation machine. Let’s work together, perhaps beginning with moving the Dream and Promise Act this Congress as a foundation for the type of work that can be done in the next Congress.”

DHS CHIEF FIRES BACK AT JAYAPAL OVER CLAIM MAJORITY OF IMMIGRATION ARRESTS POSE ‘NO THREAT’

Jeffries’ comments come after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Monday raised the possibility of Congress creating a pathway to permanent legal status for DACA recipients.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO MAKE TRUMP’S BORDER POLICIES PERMANENT

“If we want to have an immigration reform to where we can look at DACA and figure out a way that these individuals can become maybe legal permanent citizens or something like this, that’ll be up to Congress,” Mullin said.

DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

TRUMP REAFFIRMS ICE ARREST POLICY AFTER CONFUSING GUIDANCE SPARKS ALARM AMONG AGENTS

DHS emphasized in a March 3, 2026, X post that DACA “does not confer any form of legal status” in the U.S.

“To be clear: DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” DHS said in the social media post. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

“Between January 20, 2025, and September 28, 2025, ICE arrested 264 DACA recipients nationwide — and MORE than 92% were illegal aliens charged or CONVICTED of a crime in the U.S.,” the post continues.

The White House on Monday left open the possibility of working with Democrats on an immigration deal for illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade without committing other crimes, though Trump and Mullin both ruled out amnesty.

DENVER — Congressional Democrats are heading into the next two years with a choice: focus on investigating President Donald Trump and his administration or look for ways to work with him to deliver results for Americans.

The party, after sweeping pickups in last week’s midterms, right away warned Trump and Republicans to “lawyer up” and in the following days began outlining investigations into the administration, including its handling of immigration enforcement, the president’s business interests and the Justice Department’s actions.

But newly elected Democrats and strategists at the “What’s Next” conference in Denver told Fox News Digital that their party should seek opportunities to work with Trump.

The new guard argues that voters who elected them into office want to see results over partisan fights.

‘LAWYER UP’: DEMS IMMEDIATELY PUT TRUMP ON NOTICE AMID REPUBLICANS’ MIDTERM BLOODBATH

Hosted by Majority Democrats, the conference brought Democratic leaders, strategists and rising figures together to discuss the party’s direction after the midterms. Organizers billed it as an independent conversation about what Democrats should do next.

Iowa Gov.-elect Rob Sand cautioned his party against making investigations and impeachments the focus of its new political momentum, particularly when the underlying issues have already been reported.

Asked what he did not want Democrats to do as they take office, Sand said he did not want to see them “throwing bombs” at Republicans. Voters, he said, need public servants focused on improving their lives.

“There are people who are really struggling right now, whose lives have been ruined by high gas prices, by all kinds of policy choices, and they need results,” Sand told Fox News Digital. “They need public servants who are actually trying to serve the public.”

BERNIE SANDERS WARNS DEMOCRATS NOT TO SPEND ALL THEIR TIME INVESTIGATING TRUMP

Sand said he questioned the value of investigating matters already covered by the media instead of pursuing work that could help ordinary people. Asked if that meant working with the Trump administration, he said yes.

“He’s there, he was put there two years ago. He’s gonna be there another two years,” Sand said. “You don’t get to pick and choose who you work with. The people do.”

Sen.-elect James Talarico, D-Texas, called on Democrats to focus on what they can accomplish now, even as they push for longer-term reforms.

“Some of these reforms may not pass until 2029, but the American people cannot wait two years for change,” Talarico said. “We must work with President Trump.”

He urged Democrats to make the Republican president’s final two years in office “the most productive of any presidency in American history.”

Talarico, who became the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a statewide election in Texas, also warned against getting “bogged down in the same petty fights.”

“The American people are demanding change, and in this election, they chose our party to deliver it,” Talarico said.

Democratic strategist Lis Smith offered a related caution, saying the election was “largely a referendum on Donald Trump and less a validation of Democrats and their policies.”

Smith, a senior advisor for Majority Democrats, said the party still needs to earn voters’ trust and should focus on costs and corruption rather than treating their wins as a mandate for policies they did not campaign on. She also said that Democrats didn’t sweep because of their winning message, but rather because fed-up voters cast their ballots as a rebuke of Trump and his policies.

“We should not read into these election results as a mandate for far left policies advocated only by a handful of candidates,” Smith emphasized.

VOTERS PUNISHED THE GOP OVER COSTS; NOW, DEMOCRATS FACE THE AFFORDABILITY TEST

And it appears many voters agree.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published this month indicated that nearly three-quarters of Americans wanted Democratic leaders in Congress to make a concerted effort to work with the president.

This post appeared first on https://www.foxnews.com

Back-to-back blunders on the House floor are raising questions over whether Democrats are ready for primetime as they’re poised to take over the majority — and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., makes a bid for the top role.

Democrats are projected to win 255 House seats, with 12 races yet to be called, and Jeffries is running to be Speaker of the House following the sweeping victories last week that saw the party make gains even in traditional Republican strongholds like Texas, Mississippi, Kansas and South Carolina.

But some have questioned whether the recent snafus signal that Jeffries and other leaders may not be ready to be in command of the House majority.

“I may have to rethink my support of Hakeem Jeffries after the Hegseth impeachment vote,” Fred Trump III, a Democrat, author and nephew of President Donald Trump, posted on X. “Eleven Democrats do not show up? All Republicans vote it down.”

“Pete Hegseth is laughing at you and is stronger today. Shame,” he continued. “A slap in the face of the military and veterans on this important day.”

HEGSETH THWARTS GOP-LED IMPEACHMENT PUSH AS QUESTIONS SWIRL OVER WHETHER ALLEGATIONS RISE TO HIGH CRIMES

House GOP leaders successfully blocked Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., from leading the charge to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth earlier this week.

Part of the reason for the failure was the absence of 11 House Democrats during a procedural vote on Tuesday evening.

Had just seven of them been present, the vote to kill Massie’s impeachment resolution would have failed, triggering debate and a vote on impeaching the Cabinet secretary likely the next day.

“Everyone knew that attendance was key tonight but somehow Democratic leaders failed to deliver and handed Republicans a win,” Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka said in a statement.

‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOST CALLS DEMOCRATS MISSING HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT VOTE A ‘SELF-INFLICTED WOUND’

Progressive journalist David Schuster wrote on X, “Sure, house Dems will have 259 seats in January instead of current 213. And Hegseth impeachment can be reintroduced. But Hakeem having 11 Dem absences today on Hegseth (thus losing vote) reveals a Hakeem leadership problem. Embarrassing.”

An emotional Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., said in a video posted to X that she and other Democrats were stuck in traffic when they missed the vote.

Various reports, however, said they were at a fundraiser less than two miles from the U.S. Capitol.

HOUSE DEM MISSES HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT VOTE BECAUSE OF MAJOR MEDICAL PROCEDURE ONE WEEK AFTER ELECTION DAY

Others blamed medical procedures and family emergencies.

The day after, a bill Democratic leadership was actively urging lawmakers to vote against passed by unanimous voice vote — simply because no Democrats called for a roll call instead.

Democrats accused Republicans of parliamentary tricks, including a post on the X account belonging to the House Veterans Affairs Committee minority, “Republicans pushed it through that way intentionally so their members wouldn’t have to go on the record supporting cuts to veterans’ benefits.”

But the majority of Democrats do not believe it is an early blight on Jeffries’ potential speakership.

HAKEEM JEFFRIES DECLARES BID FOR HOUSE SPEAKER AFTER GOP’S MIDTERM MASSACRE

“I think there’s frustration in terms of whipping votes. I’m not entirely sure where the breakdown is. 
And it does seem like there’s maybe some tension somewhere,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis told Fox News Digital. “I think it’ll be incumbent on the incoming speaker to make sure that everybody feels like they’re on the same page … beyond that, if you’re asking me if it makes a difference in a leadership flight, I mean, nobody’s running against Hakeem. I haven’t heard of anybody seriously thinking about doing that, so I don’t know that it’ll change anything.”

He said House Democrats largely “have faith” in Jeffries and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., who is poised to be the next House Majority Leader.

Democrat Dan Turrentine, co-host of “The Huddle,” told Fox News Digital “a few Democrats unintentionally missed one vote. Unfortunately, this happens periodically in both chambers, for both parties. It does not speak to Jeffries’ leadership.”

And other House Democrats, when asked, directed frustration at their colleagues instead.

“My message is always to members that we need to be here and be on time,” Clark told reporters Wednesday. “But there was a clear message from the Republican Party as well that they are unwilling, even after this election, to stand up against Hegseth in this war.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said, “It’s unfortunate, but that’s not on leadership.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ political team for comment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will deliver his first major speech apart from his diplomatic duties Friday following the GOP’s blowout midterm losses, with some attendees at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention eager to hear how he will chart a path forward as the 2028 presidential race draws closer.

“I think it will be an interesting speech to see what he says post midterms,” attendee Isaiah McKinney told Fox News Digital. “I’m expecting him to discuss both the successes and failures of the administration and what his plans are moving forward — especially as the secretary of state. I hope he addresses the foreign policy implications and how he thinks foreign policy played a role into that, into the election results.”

Rubio will deliver an approximately 45-minute speech for the Barbara Olson Memorial Lecture, whose previous speakers include former Attorney General Bill Barr and The Free Press founder Bari Weiss.

But another question weighs heavily on the minds of attendees at the annual conference in Washington, D.C., which attracts prominent lawyers affiliated with the conservative movement.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVE EMERGES WITH 2028 PRESIDENTIAL PICK AFTER GOP’S MIDTERM MASSACRE: ‘I AM ALL IN’

“There are a lot of people in the room who are going to be wondering if he’s still planning on running for president someday,” Rachel Paulose, a former U.S. attorney and general counsel at Upper Midwest Law Center, told Fox News Digital. “That will be a question that will be top of mind for a lot of people.”

Republicans lost a net 41 House seats and eight Senate seats, with Alaska’s Senate race still undecided, marking the largest simultaneous loss in both chambers of Congress for Republicans in a midterm election since 1958. President Donald Trump has partly blamed the losses on voters’ opposition to the Iran war, and Vice President JD Vance was more direct about the war’s impact on the election results, though Rubio has yet to weigh in.

“The fact of the matter is that the Republicans got blown out pretty well in the recent election,” John Shu, a legal commentator who served in the administrations of former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, told Fox News Digital. “And it’s possible that he may talk about the budgetary process. It’ll be interesting to see what the Democratic House and the Democrat Senate will do regarding funding of the State Department.”

Shu said Rubio could also address U. S. strikes on suspected drug cartels off the coast of Venezuela in fall 2025, which drew sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers, including six Democrats with military or intelligence backgrounds who released a video urging service members to disobey unlawful orders.

CONSERVATIVES STUNNED BY ‘CATASTROPHIC’ MIDTERM BLUE TSUNAMI, BLAME TRUMP’S IRAN WAR, HIGH GAS PRICES

“I don’t know that he’s going to address the domestic policies. I mean, he’s the secretary of state,” Shu said.

Trump has previously floated a 2028 ticket pairing Vance and Rubio, who at one point held four senior administration roles simultaneously and became the subject of a running internet joke about his expanding portfolio. Trump has also joked about who would top the ticket.

“I don’t know anything about who’s going to run in 2028, but what I appreciate about Secretary Rubio is he is traveling all around the country and all around the world to talk about the importance of American values, what binds us, what brings us all together, and the importance of our Constitution,” Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP TOLD DONORS ‘WE NEED TO ELECT JD,’ SOURCE CONFIRMS, AS HE WEIGHS VANCE OR RUBIO IN 2028

Rubio’s address at the Mayflower Hotel follows a trip to Paris this week for G-7 meetings focused on Iran, Ukraine and other international challenges.

“I think that Secretary Rubio already is a person of high standing for a lot of people in this room,” Paulose told Fox News Digital.

RUBIO SOUNDS CAMPAIGN-READY AS HE RAILS AGAINST OPEN BORDERS, GLOBALISM IN SPEECH FROM ANCIENT GREEK RUINS

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, was first elected to the U. S. Senate representing Florida in 2010, and served until 2025, when Trump tapped him to become secretary of state.

Rubio ran for president in 2016, dropping out of the race after losing his home-state primary in Florida.

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“There are people who have worked for him, who’ve campaigned for him, who’ve believed in him for a very long time and who’ve seen him at his best, but I also think that there’s a real opportunity for him to deliver a positive message and a path forward for the movement,” Paulose told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

EXCLUSIVE – Former Vice President Mike Pence isn’t ruling out another run for the White House in 2028, telling Fox News Digital that he has heard from people across the country about a potential presidential bid.

The former vice president also delivered a warning to his party following the GOP’s severe setbacks in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that Republicans risk another defeat unless they abandon departures from the traditional conservative principles that have defined the party for decades.

Pence, who unsuccessfully campaigned for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said at an event in September at the Economic Club of Washington that he had “no plans” to run for president or any other elected office in 2028.

But in his first interview since the midterms, Pence appeared to leave the door open to another White House bid, telling Fox News Digital he’s received outreach urging him to consider another White House bid.

ONLY ON FOX NEWS: PENCE DELIVERS SCATHING REBUKE TO VANCE, TRUMP

“We’ve been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I’ve been very humbled by that,” he said.

Pence didn’t reveal any timeline for making a 2028 decision.

Instead, he repeatedly emphasized that “the most important thing is that we win the presidency in 2028. And to do that, I think it will be essential that we focus first on what we’re for before we focus on who we’re for.”

WILL TRUMP AVOID MAKING AN ENDORSEMENT IN THE 2028 GOP NOMINATION RACE?

Pence, who has seen Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization, dramatically expand over the past year, highlighted that he’s going to “continue to lean into advocating that broad mainstream conservative agenda that’s defined the Republican Party for the last 50 years.”

“The truth is, if we don’t return the Republican Party to the principles of a strong defense, limited government, fiscal responsibility and the right to life, it won’t matter who we nominate in 2028.”

Pence partially blames the GOP’s midterm shellacking, which saw the Democrats win a large House majority and also regain control of the Senate, on what he argues is President Donald Trump’s second term retreat from conservative principles and towards a populist agenda.

Pence, who served as Trump’s first-term vice president, claimed that “this version of Republicanism was just rejected by the American people” in what he called “the wreckage of the 2026 midterm elections.”

Asked for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital, “Mike Pence’s total and complete lack of courage caused untold damage to our great country. If Republican voters cared what Mike Pence had to say, he wouldn’t have had to drop out of the presidential race months before the Iowa caucuses.”

VANCE, CRUZ, DESANTIS DIAGNOSE GOP’S MIDTERM DISASTER AS 2028 BATTLE BEGINS