Behar Paints Palin as Anti-Immigrant, Cracks: 'At Least They Finish the Job'

On Monday’s The View on ABC, as the group discussed a recent appearance by Sarah Palin with Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer, at which Palin called on Americans to say, "We’re all Arizonans, now," to show unity with the state’s struggle with illegal immigration, co-host Joy Behar cracked: "I wish she would stop speaking for everyone. We are not all Arizonans. She has an issue with immigrants – at least they finish the job."

She later suggested that Governor Brewer is only pushing the enforcement of immigration laws for political reasons, and, after guest co-host Bryant Renfroe theorized that Palin "just wants to fight for her brand name," Behar agreed: "Right, exactly, so she can make more money."

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, May 17, The View on ABC:

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Sarah Palin appeared at a press conference with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and said, "It’s time for Americans across this great country to say, ‘We’re all Arizonans, now,’ and, in clear unison, we say, ‘Mr. President, do your job, secure our border.’"

JOY BEHAR: I wish she would stop speaking for everyone. We are not all Arizonans. She has an issue with immigrants – at least they finish the job.

GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: My son’s an Arizonan.

GOLDBERG: That’s right, he was born in Arizona.

HASSELBECK: Born in Arizona.

GOLDBERG: How does he feel about all of this?

HASSELBECK: I’m going to ask him and I’m going to let you know tomorrow. I’ll send Tim here with Taylor’s message. Look, I do think the one thing that we need to pay attention to what she said, and what a lot of people have been saying for decades is we need to do something about the border. I also think, you know, there’s a valid point to be made for giving permanent status to those who are here already-

BEHAR: Yes. She’s not for that. They call that amnesty.

HASSELBECK: -and start fresh and work on a way to do this. She’s not for that, right. I remember in Amnesty International, there are programs that can fix it. I think she’s asking for that.

BRYANT RENFROE: The thing that I was caught by with what she said also in her statement was she wondered why, if they’re illegal immigrants, illegal immigrants, why the police aren’t looking at them already because they supposedly were supposed to be already.

BEHAR: How are you supposed to spot them? Because-

GOLDBERG: Here’s the thing: You become illegal when you’ve been here past your due date or when your visa expires. So there’s a lot of people who we could be looking at. But isn’t the point, this has been the bitch for 25 years, if you’re going to do it, then you’ve got to do the job, but if you’re going to keep cutting programs and there’s no money, and then you’re spending, and there’s this, you know, it’s, you know, it’s peeing in the wind, really.

BEHAR: This governor also, Brewer, I think is up for, she’s fighting for her political life, too, so a lot of this is political. It’s not because she cares that much about it. She just wants to win.

RENFROE: And Sarah Palin just wants to fight for her brand name.

BEHAR: Right, exactly, so she can make more money.