Immigration Activists Protest Pelosi Over Trump Deal: 'We Are Not Your Bargaining Chip'

A group representing young undocumented immigrants interrupted an event hosted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday to accuse her and other Democrats of selling out immigrants by negotiating with President Donald Trump.

“We are not your bargaining chip,” they yelled at the event, which Pelosi held with Reps. Barbara Lee and Jared Huffman, both Democrats from California.

It was the first major show of protest against Democratic leaders in Congress after they met with Trump last week and pressed for the Dream Act, a bill that would grant legal status to young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Many of those so-called Dreamers are set to lose work permits and deportation protections after Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Now, some of them are concerned that they will be granted new protections in a deal that harms other undocumented immigrants, potentially including their parents.

After meeting with Trump last week, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said they had come to a loose agreement to support the Dream Act along with border security measures, although not a wall.

Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) both disputed that any deal had been agreed to. They said they would not help Dreamers without the guarantee of certain other measures, potentially including ones that would slash legal immigration and ramp up deportation efforts.

Some of the activists at Pelosi’s speech were from the group California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance. They said Democrats carried considerable blame for the infrastructure that would allow mass deportations. Former President Barack Obama hit record deportation numbers during his first term, although removal rates fell later in his presidency.

“Where was your resistance then?” the protesters said to Pelosi. They also called her a “liar.”

“Democrats created an out-of-control deportation machine and handed it over to Trump,” they said. “We demand accountability. Democrats are not the resistance of Trump. We are.”

The protesters also called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be shut down.

Pelosi walked out after telling the group that it was clear they “don’t want any answers,” NBC’s Bay Area affiliate reported. Outside of the press conference, she told reporters that the protesters “don’t want the Dream Act.”

This article has been updated with more details about who participated in the protests.

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

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