Whoopi Claims ICE Agents Are Violent Criminals, Then Scrambles To Backpedal: ‘It’s Nuance Speaking’

Whoopi Goldberg immediately backpedaled after claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were “violent criminals,” saying that she was using “nuance” when she made that particular statement.

Goldberg joined her cohosts on Monday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” where they discussed the fatal confrontation between anti-ICE activist Renee Good and the ICE agent who shot and killed her when she accelerated toward him, striking him with her vehicle. Goldberg’s overall assessment of the situation was that ICE agents were more violent than the people they were apprehending in major cities like Minneapolis.

WATCH:

After calling all ICE agents “violent criminals” before the commercial break, Whoopi comes back and claims that’s not what she did and whines about people calling her out:
“Welcome back. Before we go on, I — before folks gather around and say, ‘oh, she’s accusing all of the… pic.twitter.com/eCQK46pPPl

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 12, 2026

Goldberg began by complaining that the Department of Homeland Security had promised to pick up the worst of the worst and the most “violent criminals” — and reports detailing who ICE agents have arrested since the surge in Minneapolis began indicate they have followed through on that promise.

But Goldberg disagreed with DHS and said that, as far as she was concerned, it appeared that the “violent criminals” were inside ICE.

“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,” she said.

The show cut to a commercial break then, and by the time they returned to air, she was already trying to un-ring the bell.

“Welcome back. Before we go on, I — before folks gather around and say, ‘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,” she said.