Nancy Pelosi shouted down by immigration activists for trying to strike Dreamers deal with Trump

It's not just Donald Trump feeling the heat over a potential immigration deal

Students listen to Nancy Pelosi speak at California State University (AP)

It’s not just Republicans who are angry about Donald Trump pursuing an immigration deal with Democratic voters.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking in one of the bluest bastions in America, was shouted down by immigration activists incensed that the Democratic leader was working with a president who has regularly demonized immigrants and sought to increase deportations.

Demonstrators shouted “not your bargaining chip” and “all of us or none of us” - references to Mr Trump’s stated desire for a compromise that trades protecting young immigrants from deportation protections for tougher immigration enforcement measures like fortified border security.

They also chanted “Democrats deport!” and lofted signs reading “Democrats are Deporters”, an allusion to the fact that Barack Obama presided over a record number of deportations, and “All 11 million”, a reference to the estimated number of immigrants living in America illegally.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about”, a frustrated Ms Pelosi said, adding “It’s clear you don’t want any answers,” and repeating “just stop it now”.

The pushback demonstrated the political peril both for Mr Trump and for Democratic leaders who touted what they called a breakthrough deal with the president. It also spotlighted how a new generation of undocumented activists - emboldened by their success in prodding Mr Obama to launch the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Ms Pelosi is now striving to maintain after Mr Trump said he would end it - will keep the heat on Democratic lawmakers as negotiations proceed.

Conservatives have blasted Mr Trump for reneging on his campaign promises, saying he has capitulated on his stringent immigration stance by offering to preserve a program that allows hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation.

And while Ms Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, trumpeted their talks with Mr Trump as a sign of progress, the demonstrators assailing Ms Pelosi demonstrated that working with Mr Trump risks infuriating a base for whom the president is deeply toxic, particularly on immigration.

“I understand their frustration, I’m excited by it as a matter of fact, but the fact is they’re completely wrong. The Democrats are the ones who stopped their assault on 'sanctuary cities,' stopped the wall, the increased deportations in our last bill that was at the end of April, and we are determined to get Republicans votes to pass the clean Dream Act. Is it possible to pass a bill without some border security? Well we’ll have to see”, Ms Pelosi said afterwards, according to the Los Angeles Times.