Arnold Schwarzenegger was faced with an attempt from Joy Behar to provoke anti-ICE feelings on The View, but he decided to share a positive anecdote about his experiences in the United States instead.

‘You are yourself an immigrant to this country,’ Behar began the conversation. ‘Did you have a strong emotional response to the actions of ICE in LA?’

Schwarzenegger – after begging Democrats and his fellow Republicans ‘to come together and solve’ the issue – offered a lengthy, thoughtful response.

At points, co-host Sunny Hostin physically attempted to interrupt the conservative, who calmly continued his take.

‘Well, let me say this – when you mentioned “immigrant,” I feel truly proud and grateful for how the American people accepted me,’ he replied to Behar. ‘Just think about it – I arrived here at 21 with absolutely nothing. And then to achieve success like this.’

‘I mean, in no other country in the world could you do that,’ Schwarzenegger reiterated. ‘Every single thing – if it’s my bodybuilding career, if it’s my acting career, becoming governor, the beautiful family that I’ve created.

‘All of this is because of America.’

The assertion was immediately met with applause after which the 77 year-old chided ‘foreigners’ he said were fouling up the one place that welcomed them with open arms.

Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared to ignore an attempt from Joy Behar to stir up anti-ICE sentiment on The View Tuesday

The assertion was met with applause, after which the 77 year-old chided ‘foreigners’ for taking part in illegal activities. Pictured, protests last week in LA where demonstrators torched an autonomous car

‘This is the greatest country in the world, and it is the land of opportunity,’ Schwarzenegger said. ‘And because I’m such a proud American, and a proud immigrant… the key thing, is we need to do things legal.’

He went on to brand immigrants ‘doing illegal things in America’ as ‘not smart.’

‘Because when you come to America, you’re a guest,’ Schwarzenegger explained. ‘And you have to behave like a guest.    

‘Like, when I go to someone’s house and I’m a guest, then I will do everything I can to keep things clean,’ he further reasoned. ‘Everything that is the right thing to do rather than committing a crime or being abusive.’

The Kamala Harris voter declared that immigrants’ mindsets should be more along the lines of ‘I am going to America to use the great opportunities that America has – in education, jobs, creating a family, all of those kind of things.

‘Then you have to think, “If I get all of those things from America, I have to give something back,”‘ Schwarzenegger added.  

‘You have a responsibility as an immigrant to give back to America  and to pay back America, and to go do something for your community for no money whatsoever.’

The Terminator actor advised onlookers to ‘give something back to afterschool programs, the special Olympics, or whatever it is. 

‘This is the greatest country in the world, and it is the land of opportunity,’ Schwarzenegger said. ‘And because I’m such a proud American, and a proud immigrant… the key thing, is we need to do things legal’

An activist holds aloft a Mexican flag and an effigy of US President Donald J. Trump’s head as cars burn during protests sparked by immigration raids in Los Angeles, California

Trump on Monday ordered a new blitz on Democrat cities that will see huge numbers of illegal immigrants rounded up for the ‘largest mass deportation in history’, a week of immigration enforcement efforts in LA where protests escalated into violence 

‘Make this country a better place.’

Another round of applause ensued. 

Schwarzenegger – one of the rare Republicans to win a Gubernatorial bid in the Golden State – added separately: ‘Democrats and Republicans have to come together and solve [immigration reform] if they really want to be public servants. 

‘If they want to be party servants,’ he said, ‘it won’t happen.

Trump on Monday ordered a new blitz on Democrat cities that will see huge numbers of illegal immigrants rounded up for the ‘largest mass deportation in history’,  a week of immigration enforcement efforts in LA where protests escalated into violence.

That prompted Trump to respond by sending in the National Guard and hundreds of Marines.