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Arnold Schwarzenegger says immigrants in America need to treat the country as if they’re houseguests and do everything they can to “keep things clean.”
“I just think the world of the great kind of history that we have with immigrants in America,” the bodybuilder-turned “Terminator” star-turned-California’s former Republican governor said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View.”
“But the key thing also is, at the same time, that we got to do things legal — that is the important thing,” Schwarznegger, who was born in Austria before immigrating to the U.S. in 1968, said when asked by “View” co-host Joy Behar whether he had a “visceral reaction” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
“Those people that are doing illegal things in America, and they’re the foreigners, they are not smart,” Schwarzenegger, 77, said.
“Because when you come to America, you’re a guest, and you have to behave like a guest,” he continued.
“Like when I go to someone’s house and I’m a guest, then I will do everything I can to keep things clean, and to make my bed and to do everything that is the right thing to do rather than committing a crime, or being abusive or something like that,” the “FUBAR” actor said.
Immigrants come to the country, Schwarzenegger said, to “use America for the great opportunities that America has in education, in jobs, creating a family, all of those kind of things.”
“Then you have to think about, ‘OK, if I get all of those things from America, then I have to give something back,'” advised Schwarzenegger, who became a U.S. citizen in 1983.
“You have a responsibility as an immigrant to give back to America, and to pay back America, and to go and do something for your community for no money whatsoever,” he said.
“Give something back to after school programs, Special Olympics, or whatever it is — make this country a better place.”
Schwarzenegger also weighed in on mass demonstrations in Los Angeles by anti-ICE protesters and President Trump recently saying he would support arresting Gavin Newsom (D) following a dare by the California governor to White House border czar Tom Homan.
“I think the most important thing is, when you are in a leadership position like that, is that you are inclusive and that you work together with everybody,” Schwarzenegger told co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin when asked how he would approach the situation in the Golden State if he was still governor.
“It means that you have to work together with local government, the state government and the federal government they have to work together rather than fighting each other.”
Calling for comprehensive immigration reform, Schwarzenegger said: “Democrats and Republicans have to come together and solve this issue if they really want to be public servants. If they want to be party servants, and be party hacks and be tied to their ideology, then it won’t happen.”
“But if you want to make this country better, and if you want to improve this country and improve the situation of people’s lives, and bring the prices down and all of this, you will go and serve the people of America.”
