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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he supports bringing back DACA recipients who were deported under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and giving them remedial assistance for what he called unfair treatment.
Jeffries was asked about it on PBS NewsHour on Tuesday, November 10. Host Amna Nawaz noted reports that dozens of DACA participants are among those already deported, and asked: "Would you support efforts to bring them back into the US?" Jeffries answered: "Certainly. Anyone, whether they are a citizen, whether they were here lawfully, whether they're a DACA recipient who's 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 these last 20 months or so."
Jeffries said the immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed in a comprehensive way, that enforcement should be fair, just and humane, and that Democrats would not provide "a dime to the administration's violent mass deportation machine." He said work should begin with moving the Dream and Promise Act, which would restore protections for DACA and Temporary Protected Status recipients, as a foundation for broader work.
The answer is more direct than an earlier exchange in Florida in October, when Jeffries appeared to nod when a reporter asked whether a Democratic Congress would bring back people deported to third countries — a gesture that drew criticism from Republicans and was described by some outlets as ambiguous. On PBS, he gave a spoken answer, specific to DACA recipients.
Supporters argue that DACA recipients — people brought to the United States as children — deserve fairness and an opportunity to return. Critics question the cost of such measures and argue that government policy should prioritise immigration enforcement and the interests of American taxpayers.