During a panel segment of Fox News' Sunday show (creatively titled "Fox News Sunday"), right-wing talk radio host and vocal opponent of immigration reform Laura Ingraham refused to stand down, even when the entire rest of the panel told her she was wrong.
Using a recent pro-reform Wall Street Journal editorial as a jumping-off point, host Chris Wallace asked Ingraham to defend her hard-line opposition to reform. Ingraham then used the opportunity to play guilt-by-association with the editorial staff of the Journal.
"Far as I can tell, the Wall Street Journal is on the side of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Pat Leahy and La Raza," Ingraham said. "Right now, we're not really enforcing our laws uniformly. The president — as John Boehner just realized, apparently — is not trustworthy. He has deferred action for a million and a half people who are here illegally."
Ingraham went on to describe the debate over immigration reform as one in which "middle America" is on one side while political and business elites are on the other. She claimed normal Americans were "revolting" in opposition to comprehensive immigration reform.
While the rest of the panel would ultimately point out to Ingraham that the Obama administration has deported a record number of people, the conversation first turned into a one-on-one, pitting the pro-reform George Will against Ingraham.
Will argued that immigration reform would be a boon to the economy and the welfare state, and that the people who choose to come to the United States to work show an "entrepreneurial" spirit.
Ingraham brushed off these concerns, asking, "Do we care about American workers at all?" Will attempted to respond with a guilt-by-association of his own, arguing that Ingraham had a "zero-sum" view of the economy not unlike that of the (pro-reform) AFL-CIO.
Ingraham's response from here on out was to ask, "Why have borders at all?" and then to deride what she sneeringly called "the emotional argument" against continuing — or increasing — deportations.
At the end of the segment, panelist Juan Williams more or less gave up trying to reach Ingraham. "I'd rather have George argue with her," he said with obvious exasperation.
Check out Ingraham taking on the entire rest of the Fox News panel below, via Media Matters:
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