Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) blamed politicians for the mass protests that have rocked Los Angeles and other cities in recent days, spurred by President Trump’s expanding immigration sweeps.
The action film star accused politicians of using immigration to score political points rather than trying to reach a solution.
“This wouldn’t happen if the politicians would do their work,” Schwarzenegger told late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel during CBS’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Wednesday. “Rather than always pointing the finger at each other, they should really get together and solve this problem, because that’s what the American people want.”
“For decades, almost four decades, we have had a problem where they talked about immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform, but the Democrats and the Republicans — both of the parties — have no interest in solving this problem because they use that to raise money,” he added.
Schwarzenegger, an Austrian native and former bodybuilder who immigrated to the U.S. in 1968, became a U.S. citizen in 1983 and was governor from 2003 to 2011. He faced allegations during his gubernatorial campaign that he had spent time as an unauthorized immigrant.
Schwarzenegger has frequently feuded with President Trump, whom he briefly replaced as host of NBC’s “The Apprentice” after Trump launched his first presidential campaign.
After Kimmel asked about the status of his current relationship with Trump following the president’s return to the White House this year, Schwarzenegger pretended to cry before smiling.
Kimmel’s show is filmed in Los Angeles. Kimmel and Schwarzenegger said through the nearly 20-minute discussion that the protests in L.A. were not as bad as some had tried to make them appear.
“I don’t want all of a sudden, tourism to suffer in Los Angeles, because what they see on television,” Schwarzenegger said. “The media sometimes shows it as if the whole Los Angeles is a big war zone.”
Trump sent thousands of National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and workers amid the escalating tensions in the city, following Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids last Friday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) objected to the use of military enforcement to quell protests and the state has sued the federal government over the maneuver. A judge rejected California’s emergency request to halt the deployments.