The following is the transcript of the interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Feb. 15, 2026.
ED O’KEEFE: We turn now to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who joins us this morning from New York City. Leader Jeffries, thank you for being here.
DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be with you.
ED O’KEEFE: So as this shutdown continues, I want to remind our viewers what it is, exactly, congressional Democrats are seeking to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. You want immigration agents to show IDs, to wear body cameras, take off their masks, stop racial profiling and seek judicial warrants to enter private property. Talks between the White House and congressional Democrats are continuing. Are you willing to compromise, to let any of these go, to get the government reopened?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, our value proposition is simple, taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill them, as we horrifically saw in Minneapolis with the cold blooded killings of Rene Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. We know, and the American people clearly know, that ICE is totally out of control and they need to be reined in. Because the American people deserve immigration enforcement that is fair, that is just, and that is humane. And so, we need dramatic change at ICE, including, but not limited to, the types of things that you laid out before any DHS funding bill moves forward.
ED O’KEEFE: With the exception of some flexibility on body cameras, because they’re starting to spend some money to get those out there, some Republicans have rejected this list of policy reform proposals. You guys still seem miles apart. So when, conceivably, will we see this resolved? And again, I ask you, if- are there any of these points that you’re willing to let go in order to get the government reopened?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, we’re willing to have a good faith conversation about everything, but fundamentally we need change that is dramatic, that is bold, that is meaningful and that is transformational. And these are common sense things. For instance, judicial warrants should be required before ICE agents can storm private property or rip everyday Americans out of their homes. We need to make sure that there are actual independent investigations, so that if state and local laws are violated, in many cases, violently violated, that state and local authorities have the ability to criminally investigate and criminally prosecute anyone who has violated the law. Because we cannot trust Kristi Noem or Pam Bondi to conduct an independent investigation. We believe that sensitive locations should be off limits, sensitive locations like houses of worship, schools, hospitals or polling sites, and that fundamentally ICE should be targeting violent felons who are here unlawfully, as opposed to violently targeting law abiding immigrant families, which is completely inconsistent with what Donald Trump promised the American people he would do.
ED O’KEEFE: Right. And we, of course, this past week reported that about 14% of those detained had violent criminal records. About 60% of them were wanted on criminal records overall. But it was that 14%, violent criminals. Again, I just- it sounds like this is going to go on a while, because Tom Homan wasn’t terribly flexible on anything, especially on the issue of warrants and masks. You’re not ceding any ground. So there’s a few things coming up here. For example, State of the Union is scheduled for a week from Tuesday. Should it be held if the Department of Homeland Security is shut down?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. It is certainly my hope–
ED O’KEEFE: –Sounds like you’re going to get to it, though. I mean–
REP. JEFFRIES:–we can come to a resolution in advance of it. Well, here’s the thing, the administration and Republicans have made a clear decision that they would rather shut down FEMA, shut down the Coast Guard and shut down TSA, than enact the type of dramatic reforms necessary so that ICE and other DHS law enforcement agencies are conducting themselves like every other law enforcement professional in the country. For instance, police officers don’t use masks. County Sheriffs don’t use masks. State troopers don’t use masks. Why is it that ICE agents who are untrained, are being unleashed on American communities with this type of lawlessness, violence and brutality. Unacceptable, unconscionable, and it’s un-American.
ED O’KEEFE: Yeah, and we went over this with Tom Homan a little earlier. Of course, they point out that assaults against ICE officers have gone up over 1,300% this past year, from about 275 compared to 19 the year before. So there are some legitimate concerns about those agents being targeted, but your broader point about–
REP. JEFFRIES: –We’re going to- yeah–
ED O’KEEFE:– whether or not law enforcement should behave the same as our law enforcement is heard.
REP. JEFFRIES: Yes, and we’re going to continue, of course, to encourage the American people to exercise their constitutional rights, their freedom of assembly and their freedom of speech and their freedom of expression peacefully, as we saw overwhelmingly done in Minneapolis.
ED O’KEEFE: All right, well we’ll stay tuned on the shutdown and the negotiations. Let me ask you a few other things while we have you. First of all, you’re a member of the Gang of Eight who gets briefed on national security matters. The Pentagon is reportedly planning for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if diplomacy fails and the president opts to attack. What do you know about those plans? Or what would you want to learn as a member of the Gang of Eight?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, the administration, as has been the case since the very beginning of this presidency, has been slow to provide information both to the Gang of Eight members of Congress, the legislative leadership and the top Democrats and Republicans on the Intel Committee and certainly hasn’t provided a significant amount of information to Congress in general. These people within the administration, the extremists, they don’t seem to believe that Congress is a separate and co-equal branch of government. We are. In fact, the power to declare war is exclusively given to Congress in Article I of the United States Constitution. Now, the American people want Donald Trump and Republicans to actually keep their promise and focus on driving down the high cost of living and fixing our broken health care system. It was Donald Trump, who promised, in fact, that costs will go down on day one. Costs haven’t gone down. We’re in the midst of an affordability crisis that hasn’t been resolved. Perhaps the president should focus on making life better for the American people. Period. Full stop.
ED O’KEEFE: I hear you on that. I want to remind our viewers of the current tick tock tight margins in the House. You’ve got to net at least three seats to take the majority at this point. I want to play for you part of what you had to say about the 2026 elections when you were asked this past Thursday. Take a listen.
(BEGIN TAPE)
REP. JEFFRIES: We only need to net three. It’s happening. Democrats are going to take back control of the House, and the only question is, what’s the margin?
(END TAPE)
ED O’KEEFE: Right now, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee considers 44 of the 435 seats in the House in play, including, you just added five new ones this past week, South Central Virginia, a district in South Carolina, southern Minnesota, central Colorado and the at-large seat in Montana. Parts of the country where Democrats don’t normally win elections, we should point out. So if the election were held today, at minimum, at minimum, how many seats do you see Democrats winning?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, if the election were held today, we’re taking back control of the House of Representatives, and I’m not convinced that it would necessarily be close. But these are battles that are going to be waged, district by district by district, we know we’re winning seats now in deep red territory. We saw that in Miami in December, where we won the mayor’s race for the first time in 30 years by 20 points. And then in January, of course, we flipped a seat in the Texas State Senate that Donald Trump had just won by 17 points. The Democratic candidate won it by 14. That was a 31 point over performance. And then just last weekend in Louisiana, we flipped the House seat that Trump had won by 14. We won that- or 13–
ED O’KEEFE: So you won it–
REP. JEFFRIES: –by 24 points. That was a 37 point over performance. My point is we’re winning across the country, in blue states and purple states and red states, because the American people know we’re the only ones focused on driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken health care system and making sure that immigration enforcement is fair and just.
ED O’KEEFE: You’ve got to get at least three. Twenty to 25 seats, all 44 seats. What do you think right now? Give me a number.
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, I’m not in the prediction business. I’m in the let’s win on behalf of the American people so we can end this national nightmare business.
ED O’KEEFE: All right. Leader Jeffries, to be continued on the shutdown and on the midterms. We appreciate you spending some time with us this morning. We’ll talk to you soon, and we’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.
