'The View' Rips Trump's Immigration Plan: 'The President Doesn't Have Basic English Skills' (Video)

Television By TooFab Staff |

Donald Trump's latest immigration-reform bill caught major backlash from the co-hosts of "The View" on Thursday, after the President announced the proposed plan would prioritize legal residency for those who speak English.

"Does this policy reflect the values of the country?" moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked at the top of the show.

"I bet they'll let them in if they speak Russian," Joy Behar joked. "Everybody in the cabinet does, everybody in the White House does."

"I took personal offense to it because Spanish is my first language, I learned English when I was 5," Sunny Hostin added. "The suggestion somehow you have to speak English to merit being an American is shocking to me."

"Even the president doesn't have basic English skills," Behar cracked, before Hostin added, "And his wife, also who's an immigrant, doesn't speak perfect English."

Sara Haines found it troubling the administration was focusing on legal immigration at a time when illegal immigration is still a mess.

"The idea that we're wasting time to correct a system that's legal and working, it's a conversation to have, but I think they're misdirecting resources," she explained. "None of it makes any sense," Goldberg said in agreement.

Jedediah Bila then pointed out that when immigrants when to Ellis Island, "there was a litmus test" to screen for physical and mental illness and a puzzle was given to "weed out what they called at the time 'the feeble minded.'"

Though Bila said Stephen Miller is a "terrible spokesman" for the plan, "the idea that we want to bring in the best and brightest -- regardless of race or where you come from -- shouldn't be something we should be upset about."

That got Whoopi heated up.

"Here's the thing, not everybody speaks English in the world and there are brilliant people who want to come here whose first language is not," she said. "Basically you're saying Canadians are welcome because they speak English, Australians and they don't look like me."

"They look like white America," Behar chimed in.

"Let's be realistic about what this is," Whoopi continued, "in the last 9-10 months it has felt like people of color were not welcome here based on his language on other issues and language on these issues."

The "View" co-hosts aren't the only ones taking issue with the bill, as almost all of late night went in on it Wednesday as well. Watch those videos below.