Horace Cooper, a conservative commentator and author, had a wild response to Monday’s shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man by an ICE officer in Maine.

Appearing on CNN’s “NewsNight With Abby Phillip,” Cooper seemingly tried to claim that the conditions created by President Joe Biden’s immigration policies are the cause of the continued killings at the hands of federal immigration officers.

“What I have suggested is that you can’t sustain the cost associated with nearly 20 million people, and something absolutely has to be done. Working-class and Black people suffer the most,” Cooper said, likely referring to the alleged number of people who entered the country illegally under Biden.

Phillip continued to press him on whether he thinks the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings are just “collateral damage.”

“I blame Joe Biden,” Cooper said. “I blame Joe Biden for creating an environment where, in the effort to try to address this...”

Phillip quickly cut him off while asking how he could blame Biden for something that occurred after he left office.

“I have relatives who can’t get their kid to the hospital, because it’s overcrowded,” Cooper said, seemingly obfuscating the overall topic. “They can’t get treatment at the school for reading difficulties because it’s overcrowded.”

Phillip continued to press Cooper on his point, while asking him if the deaths of innocent people are an “appropriate price to pay for broader societal issues.”

Cooper began to speak before Phillip again cut him off.

“I asked you a question, and you responded by saying ‘well, hospitals are overcrowded; the schools are overcrowded.’ I’m asking you: Are the lives that are lost a price that you’re willing to pay?”

Cooper responded by saying he thinks lives will continue to be lost until there is a policy to deal with immigration, before once again attempting to blame Biden-era immigration enforcement.

Watch the full interaction between Cooper and Phillip from Monday night’s show here:

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