House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was shouted down by pro-immigration activists in San Francisco Monday for participating in negotiations with President Donald Trump over protections for some undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
The group interrupted a Pelosi press conference in her home district to object to the framework of an agreement that would preserve the Dream Act while increasing border security. The protesters indicated they are unhappy with a proposed deal that focuses only on continued protection for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, but does not include comprehensive immigration reform.
“Where were you when we asked [you] to defend our parents? And now you tell us, you have the audacity, to tell us you have been fighting deportation?” one protester yelled.
Pelosi, along with Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif., struggled to speak over chants of “all 11 million,” a reference to the estimated total number of undocumented immigrants currently in the country.
“What I interpret from what you are saying that you do not want us to proceed with the DREAM Act because it is not comprehensive immigration reform. We all are fighting for comprehensive immigration reform,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi eventually left the news conference as protesters called her a “liar” and chanted “leave office.”
"They don't want the Dream Act," Pelosi told the media after leaving the event, according to an NBC Bay Area report.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced last week they had devised an agreement to protect the estimated 800,000 so-called Dreamers threatened by Trump's announcement to end the Obama-era DACA policy. The announcement came as a surprise to many Republicans who felt the president had cut his own party out of the negotiations.
Trump has given mixed messages on whether a deal was reached.
