'Nuance Speaking': Whoopi Claims All ICE Agents Are 'Violent Criminals'

The inciting rhetoric against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continued unabated during Monday’s episode of The View. Amid their gaslighting about the ICE-involved shooting in Minnesota last week, ABC News moderator Whoopi Goldberg proclaimed her confusion as to how anyone could see the situation differently from her and that all ICE agents were “violent criminals.” She would go on to claim that’s not what she said, but was rather “speaking nuance.”

When it came to branding all ICE agents as violence criminals, Goldberg made the charge as they were going to a commercial break. She accused the agency of hiring the “violent criminals” they were supposedly going after:

Nobody wants this. This is not what you said they were going to be. This is the thing, you said you were going after the bad guys. That's what you said, the violent criminals. And what does it turn out? The violent criminals seem to be in the agency.

 

 

Immediately following the break, Goldberg tried to walk it back by whining about those who would report on her comment or call her out over it. According to her, anyone criticizing her was missing the “nuance” of her broad declarative statement:

Welcome back. And before we go on, I -- before folks gather around and say, [puts on a mocking voice] 'oh, she's accusing all of the folks at ICE of being criminals!' That is not what I'm doing. And just so I'm clear, it feels sometimes that there is no one watching the henhouse. Okay? So before y'all start blowing it into all kinds of other stuff, just know that it's nuance speaking.

 

 

Goldberg led into the panel discussion by decrying how “There are a zillion perspectives of this.” She went on to suggest that having an opinion different from The View’s was like allowing yourself to fall victim to lies from a cheating spouse:

And it's like that old joke, you know, a woman comes home, walks into her bedroom, hears noises happening, walks in and there's her husband having sex with somebody else. And she goes, 'oh, my, what are you doing? I can't believe you're doing this.' He said, 'what are you talking about?' She said, 'what are you doing, you're having sex with this woman.' He says, 'what are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?!'

“You know what you saw,” Goldberg declared as she expressed her confusion to how people could not see things as she did. “We know what we saw. So, how can people -- it's a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway -- watch the same footage and see things so differently?”

 

 

Elsewhere in their discussion, former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin was excited that protesters were chanting to “abolish ICE”:

You see abolish ICE Now. That was a lefty thing before. Everyone saying abolish ICE, ‘you should never say that, you should never say that.’ I think people, red states, blue states, these are the United States of America and people don't want to see murder in the -- killing in the streets!

There were many incendiary lies about the incident being thrown around recklessly. Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin falsely suggested the agent killed the woman for disobeying an order and running (no mention of the woman trying to hit him):

So we looked up what are the punishments for evading law enforcement or even fleeing police in a motor vehicle. These are serious crimes, but I want to be abundantly clear, the response is not death. It is not being shot three times in the face with your dog and your partner next to you.

Similarly, fake Republican Ana Navarro parroted the lie that the woman was killed for “driving away.” “They're sick that there's no due process. They are sick of seeing people die and dragged through the streets,” she added about the protesters.

Pretend independent Sara Haines invented her own reality when she asserted that the ICE agent was just walking around with his phone in one hand and his duty gun on the other. She did admit that the woman was there “obstructing” ICE’s official duties. Goldberg tried pushing back on that with the debunked notion that the woman had just dropped off her kids at school, but Haines had to correct her.

 

 

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
January 12, 2026
11:03:41 a.m. Eastern

(…)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: There are a zillion perspectives of this.

SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: And it's like that old joke, you know, a woman comes home, walks into her bedroom, hears noises happening, walks in and there's her husband having sex with somebody else. And she goes, 'oh, my, what are you doing? I can't believe you're doing this.' He said, 'what are you talking about?' She said, 'what are you doing, you're having sex with this woman.' He says, 'what are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?!'

HOSTIN. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

GOLDBERG: That's what this is.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: You know what you saw.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: You know what you saw. Now, you can keep saying she was aggressively running people -- she -- we know what we saw. So, how can people -- it's a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway -- watch the same footage and see things so differently?

(…)

11:10:51 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: In spite of everything, you still have the right to protest. Now, what we've seen is how people normally protest in this country, when agitators don't jump in to help. This is what protest looks like. People were protesting all over the country. And people -- and I told you this was going to happen -- people needed to get to the point where they said, it's not -- it's not them, it's me. It's all of us.

HOSTIN: You see abolish ICE Now. That was a lefty thing before. Everyone saying abolish ICE, ‘you should never say that, you should never say that.’ I think people, red states, blue states, these are the United States of America and people don't want to see murder in the -- killing in the streets!

(…)

11:11:47 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: Nobody wants this. This is not what you said they were going to be. This is the thing, you said you were going after the bad guys.

HOSTIN: Yup. Yes.

GOLDBERG: That's what you said, the violent criminals. And what does it turn out? The violent criminals seem to be in the agency.

[Applause]

We will be right back.

(…)

11:17:10 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: Welcome back. And before we go on, I -- before folks gather around and say, [puts on a mocking voice] 'oh, she's accusing all of the folks at ICE of being criminals!' That is not what I'm doing. And just so I'm clear, it feels sometimes that there is no one watching the henhouse. Okay? So before y'all start blowing it into all kinds of other stuff, just know that it's nuance speaking.

(…)