‘The View’ Cohosts React to ICE Drawdown From Minnesota

The cohosts of The View have been calling for ICE to leave Minnesota for weeks, so it’s only natural that the news that the surge in Minneapolis would end was the first order of business in Friday’s (February 13) “Hot Topics” discussion.

First, they reviewed footage of Tom Homan, Donald Trump‘s “border czar,” announcing “a significant drawdown” in agents’ presence in the state, denying any wrongdoing by the agency, and insisting the state was “safer” as a result of the operation. Then, they played a clip of Senator Rand Paul insisting that while it’s a “good sign and a good step forward,” there were still things the administration would need to do to restore public faith in ICE.

Sunny Hostin was the first to weigh in on the decision and said it wasn’t done for the right reasons. “I think it’s a very political decision, unfortunately, and not a human decision. The fact that he said, ‘I’m not saying they did anything wrong, and that Minnesota was left to be a safer place,’ that is simply not true. People are dead. There are people that have been injured. That city was terrorized. Families were torn apart. Kids weren’t going to school. People were afraid to go and buy groceries. That is complete nonsense.”

She also demanded accountability for the shooting deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens who were shot while observing operations in Minneapolis.

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Then, Ana Navarro predicted, “I don’t think there’s going to be closure in Minneapolis or in the country, frankly, until there is a thorough, unbiased investigation of the death of Alex Pretti.” She then suggested that if there’s a “change in who is in charge of Congress, and there’s actual oversight in Congress, there could be.”

She called January in Minneapolis an “inflection point” for the country and noted that while 5-year-old Liam Ramos was released from custody after public outcry, other children are still in detention. “I mean, this cannot continue. We cannot be the greatest country in the world. We cannot be the United States of America and be prosecuting children for some for things that they didn’t do.”

Sara Haines had a sunnier view of the news than the others, saying, “I don’t know what the motivation for the decision was, whether it was political or not, but I think it was the right decision.” She also said that Homan’s presence in the state was a stark contrast to the leadership seen under Kristi Noem. “One of the things that was not a prerequisite for most of the people in this administration was actual experience in the fields they’ve been appointed to,” she said, noting that Homan had been in the agency for decades and even served under Barack Obama and was praised by Minnesota officials for having communications with them where they’d been shut out before.

Joy Behar then pointed to the price tag of the surge, $18 million a week, which drew sharp rebuke from the cohosts.

Lastly, Navarro and Hostin criticized Homan’s choice of words to say that ICE agents weren’t “unprofessional.” “It was worse than unprofessional,” Navarro said. “It was inhumane,” Hostin agreed.

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC