Fox News host Tucker Carlson clashed with “The Five” co-host Geraldo Rivera on Thursday over illegal immigrants bringing COVID-19 over the open border.
While Carlson was making an appearance on “The Five” to promote an episode of “Tucker Carlson Today” about the influx of illegal immigrants flooding into the country during the Biden administration, Rivera told Carlson he was glad he didn’t attempt to link COVID-19 to the migrant surge.
“Why?” Carlson asked, to which Rivera responded by likening concerns about the border crisis to those who were concerned about immigrants in the 19th century.
The two continued:
Carlson: Are you freakin’ kidding me?!
Rivera: –in the 19th century–
[CROSSTALK]
Carlson: Oh spare me. Oh spare me.
Rivera: The Chinese in the 1880s, the Italians–
[CROSSTALK]
Carlson: Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth.
[CROSSTALK]
Rivera: [Some said] they were all bringing smallpox, they were all bringing tuberculosis–
Carlson: You know, Geraldo, we live in a country where we are being forced to take a vaccine that some people – newsflash – don’t wanna take, that Americans can be arrested for not wearing a mask because COVID is so serious! But foreign nationals break our laws carrying COVID and somehow they’re exempt from the requirements that we live under? That’s not xenophobia. That’s equal application of the law, and it’s not happening now. And it’s an appalling double standard that every American – including you – should be mad about.
Rivera: Well, I’m mad about exaggeration and hype.
Carlson: What?! It’s a policy. They are not forcing – look, if you work in the federal government you have to get the vaccine, but if you break our laws as an illegal alien, you don’t? Why don’t you explain why that’s a good idea to me?
Rivera: Well, I don’t think the segment is about me. I would be glad to. … Let Jesse be the subject now, and then Greg’s gonna ask you about fishing.
WATCH:
Carlson and Rivera’s exchange came the same day U.S. Capitol Police were instructed to arrest vaccinated staff and visitors on the House side if they do not wear masks, according to a police memo that circulated Thursday.
The mandate stoked outrage from some members of Congress, such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who blasted those in Congress who care more about enforcing masks than securing the border. As The Daily Wire reported:
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) excoriated the House of Representatives during an impassioned speech on the House floor Wednesday and accused them of caring more about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) revised mask mandates than the crisis at the southern border.
“We have a crisis at our border and we are playing footsie with mask mandates in the people’s House,” Roy said, referencing the mask mandate reinstated for House members on Wednesday. “It’s absolutely absurd what this body is doing, the people’s House. It’s an embarrassment, a mockery, and the American people are fed up. They want to go back to life. They want to go back to business.”
Related: D.C. Mayor Reinstates Indefinite Indoor Mask Mandate For Ages 2 And Up