Should Democrats wait to win in the midterms or fight back on immigration now?

During a joint press conference Wednesday morning, Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler stood united in their criticism of recent federal immigration enforcement, but had alternate views on how to combat it.

The members of Congress spoke outside of 26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan’s federal immigration court building, after they were denied entry to an area where immigrants were detained on the 10th floor. This was the site where New York City Comptroller Brad Lander had been arrested the previous day. Both representatives emphasized that their prohibited access was illegal, as members of Congress are permitted by law to visit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities to inspect and conduct oversight.

Despite holding immigrants in the area for multiple days, the 10th floor is not an official ICE detention facility, a loophole used to justify their barred entry, according to Goldman and Nadler. Goldman, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, said he will urge Republicans on the committee to make a joint request to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to direct the officials there to grant them entry.

However, any legislative path would require cooperation and support from the congressional Republican majority – a considerable challenge and an unlikely outcome. When pressed about how to navigate the Republican roadblock, Nadler turned to the midterm elections.

“If our Republican colleagues in the majority refuse to do anything about it, we will have to wait until we get a Democratic majority in (2026), which I am confident we will,” Nadler said. “If the Republicans refuse to enforce the right they are complicit in this, but I’m not sure there is much we can do about it.”

Goldman quickly jumped in.

“I would just add by the way, that I do think there may be, and we would have to consult with lawyers, there may be intermediate action, because it is very clear from the plain language of the statute that the Department of Homeland Security is violating the law and I am not prepared to wait until January 2027 to make this administration follow the law,” Goldman said.

Although Nadler quickly agreed they should go to court when he “(thought) about it,” their mixed messaging reflects fractures within the Democratic Party. According to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS in March, 52% of Democrats felt the party’s leaders were taking the party in the wrong direction and about 27% of Democrats felt that the party was doing a poor job standing up to Trump’s policies. So some in the party feel like there’s a lack of urgency and resistance to Trump, which Nadler’s “wait until we get a majority” idea seemingly reinforced.

Although the two representatives spoke side by side at the press conference, Goldman made an effort to distance himself when Nadler’s majority comment was referenced again.

“Just to be clear, I did not say that,” Goldman said.

Toward the end of the press conference, Nadler appeared to walk back his statement in response to a question on the party’s sagging approval ratings.

“The Democratic Party’s approval ratings are down, I think, because a lot of people think we ought to be doing more, not because they don’t like what we’re doing. They don’t see what we are doing, because a lot of it is just not seen, but we have no intention of waiting for the next Congress, we’re doing things now. Congressman Goldman and I are here today,” he said.