House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries went on CNN this weekend to encourage people to keep showing up at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE facility for what he called "peaceful" protests — apparently unaware, or just not caring, that the protests have turned violent and ICE agents are now fielding death threats. But sure, Hakeem. "Peaceful."
Where have we heard this one before? Oh right — every burning city in America circa 2020.
Jeffries appeared on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" to deliver his rallying cry to the mob camped outside the Newark immigration facility. Keep showing up, he told them. Stay "peaceful." Because nothing says peace like federal agents needing security details just to do their jobs.
Here's where it gets really good. Erin Burnett — not exactly a right-wing attack dog — actually pressed Jeffries for specifics about what he personally witnessed inside the facility. What conditions did he see? What abuses could he describe?
He had nothing.
Not a single detail. Not one specific observation. Not a name, not a condition, not a complaint he could articulate with any precision. The House Minority Leader of the United States went on national television to stoke outrage about a facility he apparently toured with his eyes closed.
You can watch the exchange for yourself...
As MRC Video's Steve Malzberg noted, Jeffries urged people to keep showing up for "peaceful" protests outside of Newark's Delaney Hall, even though the protests have been violent. That's not an editorial opinion — that's just what happened. ICE agents at the facility are dealing with death threats. Actual death threats. From the "peaceful" crowd.
This is the 2020 playbook photocopied and handed out to a new class of agitators. Democrats stand in front of cameras, say the magic word — "peaceful" — and then wash their hands of whatever happens next. Buildings burned? Peaceful. Cops attacked? Peaceful. Federal agents threatened with death? You guessed it.
The Newark standoff is the hottest story in the country right now and it's escalating daily. ICE is trying to enforce federal immigration law — you know, the law that actually exists on the books — and the response from Democratic leadership isn't to call for calm or demand their supporters stand down. It's to show up on CNN and pour gasoline on it.
Jeffries doesn't need to provide specifics because specifics aren't the point. The point is the mob. The point is obstruction. The point is making it politically impossible for ICE to do its job so that Democrats can campaign on the chaos they created.
We saw this movie already. We know how it ends. The only difference is that in 2026, we've got a president who isn't going to let a congressman with no facts and a CNN booking agent run the country's immigration policy.
Good luck with that "peaceful" strategy, Hakeem. We've got receipts from last time.