Steven Seagal returns to television with 'True Justice,' talks race and border wars

(Steven Seagal)

Steven Seagal is back with a gun in-hand for Reelz Channel’s new show “True Justice.” And although the scripted series about undercover cops is classed as fictional, Seagal has more reality to draw from than almost any other Hollywood actor.

When he wasn’t making action movies, Seagal, 59, spent more than two decades working as a law enforcement officer in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana – and his adventures were later documented in the A&E reality series “Steven Seagal: Lawman.”

Last year, he was sworn-in as the Hudspeth County Sheriff department’s newest deputy in West Texas – and his continuing work in border patrol is keeping him on his toes.

“It ain’t what it used to be, it is a lot harder now to be a police officer than what it used to be, but I enjoy it,” Seagal told Fox411’s Pop Tarts column while promoting “True Justice,” which debuts on Friday. “I work in Texas on the border, and Arizona on the border, and there is a lot of crazy stuff going on with the border wars these days.”

And when it comes to the borders debate, the actor and martial arts master maintains that the ongoing controversy over “illegal aliens” has nothing to do with race.

“It's an issue that is based on narcotics and money and business, it is really narcoterrorism now. When people talk about it being an immigration or racial issue, those people are dumb. They are stupid,” he continued. “In my opinion, it has to do with crime. I'm not aware of anyone that walks up to somebody on the street and says, ‘what's your nationality? Let me see your proof of citizenship.’ I have never seen that happen in my life and I don't believe it has ever happened.”

Seagal claims that he obtains the highest arrest warrants possible – for murder, rape, child molestation, and armed robbery – and the sole intent is to go after and arrest criminals, regardless of their nationality and ethnic background.

“If someone breaks the law in America, we don't care if they are Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Mongolian, we arrest them. It really has nothing to do with what nationality they are,” he stressed. “Now if we find people that have committed a crime and they are in the United States of America illegally, it is possible or even probable that they would be deported. But I would say that is the same as almost any country on earth… Probably more than 50,000 people have been killed in the border wars over the last few years, which is way more than Iraq and Afghanistan to-date. Don't you think this should be declared a war too?”

But despite all the drama, trials and tribulations in his career both on and off the screen, Seagal manages to keep it all together with an emotion-free approach to life.

“I try to have a very Zen outlook, I never want to analyze or manipulate what is happening. I roll with it,” he added. “The Zen attitude is not to get overwhelmed with fame or success or failure for that matter, I always try to keep a very even keel.”

“True Justice”  premieres Friday at 9pm E/P on REELZ