'Being infiltrated': Hasselbeck champions Noem's border crackdown, clashes with ‘The View’ co-hosts

Elisabeth Hasselbeck argued that audience screening at the show reflected why national border controls were necessary amid global instability
Elisabeth Hasselbeck clashed with co-hosts on 'The View' as she defended Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border policies under the Trump administration (Screengrab/The View/X)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck clashed with co-hosts on 'The View' as she defended Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border policies under the Trump administration (Screengrab/The View/X)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Back at 'The View' table, Elisabeth Hasselbeck forcefully defended President Trump's immigration policies and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday, March 4, sparking sharp exchanges with her co-hosts.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s return to 'The View' wasn’t a quiet one. Filling in as guest host, she quickly found herself in a full-throated debate over border enforcement, clashing with Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines over whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign.

The debate followed outrage over the fatal shooting of citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents - a case several co-hosts cited while criticizing the administration’s enforcement tactics under President Donald Trump.



Emily Hasselbeck sets the record straight

Hasselbeck’s central argument was that strong borders were a matter of basic security, no different from the precautions taken inside the television studio itself.

She suggested that critics of border enforcement still relied on security measures in their own daily lives. She turned to the audience and pointed out that every person present had gone through a screening before entering.

“We need a strong border, especially now with our current global situation,” she said.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 04: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. Noem is appearing before Congress for a second day as she faces questions on the department's handling of immigration enforcement and the effects of its partial shutdown. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 04, 2026, in Washington, DC (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

"How many people in the audience here had to go through security to get here? Raise your hand. This is an authorized audience. They had to go through security to get right here, to hear us talk. We need strong borders more than ever right now. We are being infiltrated," Hasselbeck added.

Her point was that if security is expected in a studio, it should be expected at a nation’s borders.

“And we are in uncommon times, so we need to have uncommon sense about things like this,” she added.

“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 US for 10 months straight have not crossed”, said Hasselbeck.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Department of Homeland Security has faced criticism over it's handling of immigration enforcement leaving the department unfunded (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 03, 2026, in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Co-hosts clash over Minnesota killings

Sunny Hostin pushed back forcefully, focusing on the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. She highlighted the incident not as collateral damage but as criminal wrongdoing.

"We were not on the border when Renee Good and Alex Pretti were m******d, and death is not a mistake," Hostin said, adding that the deaths were deliberate killings.

Hostin also labeled Noem as “unqualified” and criticized what she described as a lack of empathy during congressional hearings - a charge Hasselbeck strongly disputed.

Hasselbeck responded by arguing that victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants also deserve acknowledgment.

A portrait stands at a memorial for Alex Pretti on January 25, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pretti, an ICU nurse at a VA medical center, died on January 24 after being shot multiple times during an altercation with U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Eat Street district of Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
A portrait stands at a memorial for Alex Pretti on January 25, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

When Hostin accused her of being dismissive, Hasselbeck rejected that characterization. “I’m not dismissive. I just said all of their lives matter,” she said.

Joy Behar tried to interrupt, but Hasselbeck kept going. “Hang on one second,” she said.

Behar then attempted to ground the discussion in data, but Hasselbeck countered by presenting her own numbers, arguing that the prior administration under Joe Biden had allowed widespread instability at the border.

Former President Joe Biden speaks to a crowd during a fundraising event with the South Carolina Democratic Party at the Columbia Museum of Art on February 27, 2026 in Columbia, South Carolina. The event marked the sixth anniversary of Biden's presidential primary win in the early voting state of South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Former President Joe Biden speaks to a crowd during a fundraising event with the South Carolina Democratic Party at the Columbia Museum of Art on February 27, 2026, in Columbia, South Carolina (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

She claimed that "450,000 children and families" were missing under Joe Biden. "We have now reunited 146,000 children with their families."

Hasselbeck closed her argument by acknowledging the human cost while maintaining that borders are necessary.

“I also believe that we have a God of borders,” she said. “We have a nation of borders for a good reason. I hate the fact that people are dying in this. My heart actually bleeds for this.”

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