Mediaite‘s Larry O’Connor Battles Fox News Panel Over ‘Legal and Illegal Immigration’

On Tuesday night, Mediaite Contributing Editor Larry O’Connor had a fiery exchange with fellow Fox News panelists regarding a recent federal court ruling that blocked President Trump‘s order to cut funding to sanctuary cities.

Johns Hopkins University professor Wendy Osefo sided with Judge William H. Orrick‘s decision, saying there’s “no way” to enforce this order and that it had nothing to do with his liberal leanings.

Meanwhile, O’Connor mocked Democrats for “now embracing federalism” and asked where they’ve been “for the past six decades.”

“I think for most Americans, when you see this sanctuary city policy and you see cities and counties and states deciding, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to cooperate with the federal government on this. We are going to disobey the law. We are going to pick and choose what laws are valid and which aren’t but still give me all the federal tax dollars.’ It doesn’t pass the smell test with most Americans and it doesn’t make sense,” O’Connor said. “And to me, this judge’s ruling doesn’t really wash either.”

O’Connor then pointed to a recent story of a young woman being murdered by an illegal immigrant, who was her co-worker at a Virginia KFC in a county that honored the sanctuary policy.

“There are very real, human repercussions from these policies,” O’Connor told Shannon Bream.

“There are- and I’m actually one of them,” Osefo interjected.  “I am an immigrant. I came into this country when I was three years old. I am from Nigeria. I was the first person to get a Ph.D. in my department in 2016. So let’s not paint immigrants as people who violate the law.”

Bream quickly clarified that she came here legally, which Osefo said she did.

“Do you not make the distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration?” O’Connor asked Osefo.

“I absolutely do,” she responded.

“Oh good, so then don’t say I was painting immigrants that way because I wasn’t,” he shot back.

She quickly accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of painting all immigrants with a broad brush with his policies.

“Not this policy!” O’Connor exclaimed. “This is very specific to illegal immigration. Can you name one policy he set forth where it paints all immigrants the same- legal and illegal?”

“Absolutely,” Osefo said. “He tries to make it seem as though all immigrants-”

“Please, that’s not a policy,” O’Connor grinned. “‘He tries to make it seem as though’ is not a policy.”

Watch the clip above, via Fox News.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com