O’Reilly Battles Ingraham On Immigration: If This Falls Through, Hispanic Voters Will Abandon GOP

Even after border security amendments were added today, many Republicans and conservatives are still skeptical of the immigration reform bill. Ingraham told O’Reilly that she was “uproariously laughing” at his interview with a Republican senator supporting the bill, saying people like Marco Rubio were claiming the public months ago the bill had the toughest immigration enforcement ever. O’Reilly was more optimistic about the bill, clashing with Ingraham over the economic benefits of the bill and whether the GOP needs immigration reform in order to gain more support among Hispanic voters. Ingraham rolled her eyes at O’Reilly and told him not to buy into the Democrats’ “phony, fraudulent narrative.”

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O’Reilly said that reform is important, and that if the immigration bill, along with the increased border security provisions, actually does what it promises, “that’s a good thing.” Ingraham threw cold water on his hopes, saying the very fact that Chuck Schumer, Dick

Durbin, Janet Napolitano, and President Obama is a “clue that it’s ultimately not going to be good.”

O’Reilly touted John McCain‘s support of the bill, and when Ingraham questioned why he would go on that alone, O’Reilly said, “I don’t think McCain is a liar.” Ingraham touted the Congressional Budget Office’s finding that the immigration bill will increase unemployment while reducing wages. O’Reilly dismissed that as a hypothetical, but Ingraham insisted “It’s not a hypothetical!”

O’Reilly kept pushing his point, saying immigrants are “here and they’re working anyway.” He also told Ingraham that if the GOP abandoned the bill and agreed with her, they will lost the Hispanic vote. Ingraham smacked down that argument, but O’Reilly insisted “this’ll certainly be spun” as anti-Hispanic. Ingraham shot back, “Don’t buy into their narrative, it’s a phony, fraudulent narrative!”

Watch the full segment below, courtesy of Fox News:

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac