Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on ABC's "The View" on Monday, using the appearance to promote her new book and take a victory lap after winning a second term in November 2024 in the state where her father, Mike Huckabee, previously served as governor from 1996 to 2007.

The hosts were largely cordial, but co-host Sunny Hostin refused to back down — and at one point caught the Republican governor unaware of basic facts about her own state.

Sanders opened by pointing to affordability as her focus, crediting it for the GOP's success in Arkansas. Her remarks stood in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has made clear that he considers affordability "a hoax." The governor said that, at a time when people are struggling and hurting, her state cut taxes to ensure residents had higher take-home pay, and highlighted a term she coined, "maximum wage," which she uses to describe helping people so they don't get stuck in jobs that provide raises and opportunities for advancement.

Hostin then asked what the minimum wage in Arkansas is. Sanders did not know, saying she thought it was $15 an hour — the level long promoted by national minimum-wage campaigns. The state's minimum wage is actually $11 an hour, a rate Arkansas voters set through a 2018 ballot initiative that sits well above the federal floor of $7.25 an hour, and the tipped minimum wage is $2.63 per hour, above the federal tipped minimum of $2.13.

The conversation shifted to immigration. Co-host Ana Navarro noted that immigrants make up about 10 percent of the Arkansas workforce — a smaller share than nationally, where foreign-born workers account for nearly one in five of the U.S. labor force, according to federal labor statistics. She also referenced Trump's comment to "60 Minutes" on Sunday that his immigration policy was probably "too tough" — though no changes to it have been made.

Sanders brought up a nurse in her state who was killed by an undocumented immigrant who was driving while intoxicated. "That person was deported during Trump one," she said. The man was charged and convicted, receiving "20 years for Negligent Homicide and five years for fleeing the scene of an accident" — a 25-year sentence — as KATV reported at the time.

Trump, she said, "put an intense focus on violent criminal illegals. I think that was the right place. I think it needed to happen."

Navarro cut in to say that the overwhelming number of people being captured and deported have no violent criminal history. Sanders responded that such people are where Trump should focus, but argued he could not do so without "securing the border" first.

Hostin then interjected to ask about people who had been deported despite never having done anything criminal. The audience burst into applause at the question.

"And I think the president was right to say — I think if you listen to what he said, he's saying, we shouldn't have cracked down in those spaces," Sanders replied. The crackdown, however, continues.

Sanders went on to reference the "broken immigration system" and "illegals," before Hostin said she wanted to move on — while quibbling that people are "undocumented." The audience burst into applause again.

Sanders responded that when people break the law, "that's the definition of illegal." By that logic, Hostin countered, Americans could then be labeled "illegals" as well.

"Yeah, people are not illegal, they may commit crimes, but they are not illegal. But let's move on," Hostin said, before beginning her next question.

Sanders shrugged and jumped in: "Actually, that's the same."

"It's not," Hostin quipped.