‘The View’: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Swarmed by Panel Over Immigration Take

Things got testy indeed on Wednesday’s (March 4) episode of The View when the subject of Kristi Noem‘s contentious testimony on Capitol Hill was covered. Guest host Elisabeth Hasselbeck found herself on defense against all of her fellow panelists after defending Noem and, by extension, Donald Trump, despite nationwide backlash — including from key GOP officials — over the multiple shooting deaths caused by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

After reviewing footage of Noem being castigated by Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, the cohosts reacted.

“I love dogs, I love people. I think all lives matter to God, and we’re in uncommon times, so we need to have uncommon sense about things like this,” Hasselbeck said before defending Noem. “Yes, there will be mistakes made, but I think if Kristi Noem were up for promotion right now, and she put forward the statistics that zero illegals released into the U.S. for 10 months straight have not crossed, that nearly 3 million aliens have left the United States, that we have the lowest murder rate in 125 years, [that] fentanyl trafficking is down 50% at the border and daily encounters have gone down 96%.” As others at the table attempted to interject, she continued, “We need a strong border, especially now with our current global situation, and I believe that you may say you don’t want border control and you’re against ICE, but I actually don’t believe you believe that in your daily lives.”

Hasselbeck then turned to the audience and had them raise hands if they had to go through a security check to be there before adding, “This is an authorized audience. They had to go through security to get through the border to get right here, to just hear us talk. We need strong borders more than ever right now. We are being infiltrated.”

Sunny Hostin then challenged her, asking what relation the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, had to do with the border. After accusing Hasselbeck of being “dismissive” about that fact, which Hasselbeck denied, Hostin proclaimed, “Secretary Noem is wholly unqualified for her job. She has zero empathy.”

Things then devolved into a major instance of crosstalk between Hasselbeck and Hostin, with the former pointing out that Noem’s role was Congressionally confirmed, and Hostin noting that undocumented immigrants are largely not convicted of crimes.

Sara Haines then stepped in and offered her own pushback on Hasselbeck’s point, saying that Noem has “taken a very fair issue that’s bipartisan, immigration and fixing the system, and she has trashed the impression” of the matter.

In response, Hasselbeck said that’s merely “because of the media.”

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Haines disagreed, saying, “As a woman, and you should be able to relate to this point, a man comes at me with a mask and a gun, I am taught instinctively to fight or flight. If someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night. So the way it’s been carried out is in the problematic part.”

However, Hasselbeck was undeterred. “I understand. I also believe that we have a God of borders. We have a nation of borders for good reason. I hate the fact that people are dying in this. My heart actually bleeds for this.” She then went on to read off a list of individuals who were killed by undocumented immigrants, like Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungary.

Whoopi Goldberg then used the final moments of the segment to argue that Joe Biden attempted to push through a bipartisan immigration package during his administration, but “You Know Who” ordered his followers in Congress to shut it down, so it did not pass.

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