Fox’s Laura Ingraham Brawls With Republican Congressman: ‘Why Do You Come on Television and Say That?’

Fox’s Laura Ingraham brawled with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Wednesday in a lengthy, heated exchange over the congressman’s push to grant legal status to some undocumented immigrants.

Lawler joined The Ingraham Angle to discuss the Dignity Act, his proposed legislation to allow undocumented immigrants who have resided in the U.S. for extended periods of time to live and work legally. Ingraham hammered the congressman repeatedly on the details of the bill, calling out Lawler’s comment that undocumented immigrants needed to be pulled “out of the shadows,” as the congressman tried to speak.

She said:

Congressman, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but you’ve got to stop using the cliches. This “in the shadows” line, I have been dealing with this for 25 years. I don’t know what shadows you are looking at, but they are not in the shadows. They’re working in restaurants, some are. Others are engaged in widespread fraud in California. But this idea that they’re already given amnesty. They’re not already given amnesty. Why do you come on television and say that?

The two continued to speak over each other as the host pressed the congressman, asking if he’d read his own legislation. Ingraham then pressed Lawler on how the bill determined if an immigrant had been in the country long enough to qualify for the legislation, asking the congressman to “answer a simple question” for her viewers:

LAWLER: I don’t want anyone getting a free pass here.

INGRAHAM: It’s in the legislation. Have you read the legislation?

LAWLER: If you have committed a crime– yes, I have, Laura. If you have committed a crime, you should be removed from the country, period. Number two, what we are trying to do is say if you have been in the country for more than five years, in other words, if you came here during Joe Biden’s administration, you don’t qualify.

INGRAHAM: How do you determine that?

LAWLER: You don’t qualify under this legislation.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, all of this sounds great. Answer a simple question.

LAWLER: It’s very clear. You have to be in the country before 2020.

INGRAHAM: I’m a simple person.

LAWLER: Yeah, you have to be in the country before 2020 so–

INGRAHAM: How– alright. I’m a simple person. Please– all right. Please tell my audience because they are very smart, how does an immigration officer determine– millions and millions– determine continuous presence and tell me the considerations they take into account to determine that.

LAWLER: Well, look, if they cannot prove that, if they cannot prove continuous presence, they wouldn’t qualify for this. You have to be able to show, to meet the qualifications.

INGRAHAM: But I just asked you a question. How do you determine it?

LAWLER: You have to be able to meet the qualifications of the program.

INGRAHAM: What is the qualification?

LAWLER: And that means the Department of Homeland Security is going to determine, they are going to make determination as they always have.

INGRAHAM: Rules.

LAWLER: Based on the current structure and guidelines that are in place. But the bottom line here,

INGRAHAM: So– so, congressman–

LAWLER: Laura, can I make a few points? Because this actually matters. EVerify is part of the deal.

INGRAHAM: You bet it does.

LAWLER: And it’s part of the bill. And we want to verify that every single person who would be employed in this country is here legally. If you are not verified, you wouldn’t be able to lawfully work, and we would hold those businesses accountable. The bottom line of the Dignity Act is very straightforward. You have to be in the country for more than five years. You cannot have committed a crime. You cannot collect government benefits.

INGRAHAM: Okay. That’s false, false, false.

LAWLER: You have to pay a fine. You must pay back taxes.

INGRAHAM: Congressman.

LALWER: It’s not false, Laura. You must pay back taxes–

INGRAHAM: Congressman. Alright, congressman.

LALWER: –and you must be employed

INGRAHAM: Congressman.

LALWER: Those are the terms.

INGRAHAM: Here’s the truth. Congressman, you know how much I like you. But you can’t come on this show and say to my audience that you can’t have committed a crime to be eligible under the, quote, Dignity Act because there are several crimes that are, quote, nonviolent, that do not qualify for admissibility and on top of that, there are multiple instances, including family unity, public interest, and just discretion on the part of immigration officers.

The tense exchange the two continued, with Ingraham continuously calling his points false and telling the congressman, “I live on planet Earth.” Lawler told the host at the close of the segment that he would be glad to work with her to improve the bill.

Watch above via Fox News.

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