A partial government shutdown is underway.

And with Congress out this week and unlikely to return until next week, many employees

of agencies under the Department of Homeland Security will continue working without pay for

the foreseeable future.

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York is the top Democrat in the House, and I spoke with

them this afternoon.

Leader Jeffries, welcome back to the News Hour.

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks, me with you.

So without a funding deal now, we're in day three of another partial government shutdown.

We know Congress is out all week.

So does that mean that a shutdown is going to last at least that long?

Well, as Democrats, we continue to be ready, willing, and able to sit down with our Republican

colleagues anytime, any place in order to make sure that we can get ICE under control.

The American people deserve to have their taxpayer dollars used to make their life more affordable

and not to brutalize or kill them, as was tragically

the case with Renee Nicole Good and Alex Prattie. And we simply believe, as a value proposition,

that immigration enforcement in this country, it should be fair, it should be just, and it should

be humane. Donald Trump promised to target violent felons who are here illegally.

Instead, ICE has been targeting law-abiding immigrant families

and brutalizing American communities. That's unacceptable, and that needs to change.

In terms of where talks are to get to some kind of deal,

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