O'Reilly: Last month the Denver Post ran a story about Jesus Apodaca, an illegal immigrant who did well in high school but couldn't go to the University of Colorado because of his status. After reading the story, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo contacted the INS and asked it to check out the Apodaca family. The Denver Post then labeled the congressman mean spirited and ordered a few reporters to sniff around and see if the congressman had any immigration skeletons in his closet. It turns out, two allegedly undocumented immigrants worked on the congressman's home in the past.

Joining us from Washington is Congressman Cantredo (sic), and from Denver, Dr. Luis Torres, director of the Chicano studies department at the Metropolitan state college of Denver. The Post declined to participate.

All right, congressman, do you think this is a war against you, a jihad by the Post to make you look bad?

Tancredo: I think what it is is an attempt by the Post to cover its own tracks, frankly. They took a family, brought to them, as I understand, by the Mexican consul in Denver, for the purpose of making them a poster family, a poster family of illegal immigrants, publicizing them, asking for their son, their oldest boy, to be able to go to college and, essentially wanting the state of Colorado to change the law.

Now when they did that, of course, they jeopardized the status of this family. They told the world, including me and everybody else, who they were, where they were and that they were here illegally. I felt that that was, if nothing else, a slap in the face to every single person who has come here legally. The millions who have walked into this country, or flow in, or done whatever they had to do to get here legally, spent years, thousands of dollars trying to get through the bureaucratic maze are told by the front page of the Post that they are suckers. They can easily walk into the country illegally, they would have their children educated, and when it came to higher ed, we would pay for it.

I waited three weeks. I called the INS and asked, what do you do about this kind of thing? The said they would send them a letter. The next day on the front page of the Post that I demanded the deportation of this young man, Jesus Apodaca. Didn't even mention his name. it doesn't matter, that's what happened. Then they said, later on, that they found two people who wandered into the Denver Post and said, we're here illegally, and we're also felons because we gave false identification to an employer who is contracted with an organization the congressman used to finish his basement. Now, is that true? We have no idea because the Denver Post won't say.

O'Reilly: Now, I'm not going to worry about that. I'm going to let Dr. Torres reply to you, congressman. Alright, go ahead Dr.

Torres: I'm interested to hear Mr. Tancredo, representative Tancredo, say that he did not ask for the deportation of Mr. Apodaca and his family. I am sure they will be very glad to hear that. This has been a very difficult situation here in Denver. We know the reality of the immigrants, the Mexican immigrant population. We know, for example, that according to the United States census bureau, the Mexican immigrants are the single highest group involved in the labor force participation. In other words, they work more than any other group in the United States. And I think the fact that at least two of them worked on Mr. Tancredo's basement, remodeling it, I think is an indication of that. In addition, we know that they have the single highest family values, the single highest.

O'Reilly: But what does this have to do with somebody being... Look, Dr., nobody's casting aspersions on Mexican-Americans, but, illegal immigrants... congressman has been out front, been on this program many times saying, look, we must enforce the law in this country. Now in this case, it looks like Jesus Apodaca is a great kid, studied hard, but he still is in the country illegally. So did the congressman do something wrong in your opinion Dr.?

Torres: He came, Mr. Apodadaca came with his family. He has been here for several years. He graduated from a local high school. His family pays taxes. In fact, Mr.
Apodaca probably pays taxes himself if he is has worked, and I assume that he has. He has received a 3.93 grade point average on a 4.0 scale in Aurora, the Aurora high school, a suburb of Denver. So he has done everything right, Mr. Apodaca. He has done everything right, I think his family are very hard working, and they are representative of the other Mexican immigrants who are still....

O'Reilly: But they are still here illegally.

Torres: Well they are here as undocumented....

O'Reilly: They're here illegally, Dr., and there's the dilemma. I feel sorry for Jesus Apodaca, I don't know his family. But any kid who can get that kind of grade in high
school and has been here because he didn't come here illegally, his parents did. But I don't think he should be punished, but the congressman's duty as a sworn officer
is to uphold the law. You know, I think you're... why don't you go ahead congressman.
Tancredo: It is a difficult issue, and it appears to me that the Apodaca family is a very nice family; this young man is a very nice man. That's not the issue. If they are
here illegally, then whatever procedure is supposed to be put in place, including eventual deportation, is what the INS should do.
O'Reilly: But that's really cold, isn't it congressman? I mean the kid is here, it's not his fault he's here, he's doing well.
Tancredo: Bill, can I go back to that original point. What do you do, if in fact you ignore the illegal status of this family and provide for them, not only the education of
their kids, but now higher education, what do you do? What is the message that you send to every single person who came here legally?
O'Reilly: How do you answer that Dr.? It's ok for the Apodacas Dr., is it ok for everbody, for every illegal immigrant family of every race, to get their college paid for, is that ok?
Tancredo: And why would anybody go through the legal process if your can get the same thing by coming illegally?
O'Reilly: Alright. I'll give the Dr. the last word, go ahead Dr.

Torres: I think in many ways this family has already paid for this education. Immigrant workers, Latino immigrant workers pay approximately 70 billion dollars in taxes,
different kinds of taxes, and they receive approximately only 42 billion

'Reilly: They're in this country illegally, so what? I mean, you know
Torres: They have already paid.
O'Reilly: Do you think that all illegals should be made citizens then, Dr.?
Tancredo: He thinks we should abandon the borders
Torres: I think the Immigration and Naturalization Service has a great deal of work to do. I think in this case, I would suggest that the representative has a lot of other
priorities that he can go after, rather than a seventeen or eighteen year-old.
O'Reilly: So let it go. I will say to you, congressman, that the Denver Post tried to getcha, there is no doubt about it.
Torres: I disagree.
O'Reilly: No, I do it all the time.
Torres: The Denver Post did their job.
O'Reilly: Dr., I do it all the time. Someone tees me off, say to my best investigators, take a look. I'm being honest.
Torres: The Denver Post did their job. They reported that the congressman hired undocumented immigrants.
Tancredo: I hired no undocumented aliens.
O'Reilly: That's just a specious argument. I've got people working all over the place. I don't know, I hire a contractor. But the Post went after him and that's the truth. It's good to talk to both of you, thank you very much.

Wrong: He could have gone to the University of Colorado, but he would have had to pay out-of-state tuition.

Allegedly undocumented? They were admitted illegal aliens! And it is not clear at all that they actually worked on his home!

This entire episode was engineered by Mexico in cooperation with the Denver Post. It is part of la Reconquista.

You should worry about it, O'Reilly.

False: The census bureau reports that Hispanics (most are from Mexico) have an unemployment rate nearly twice that of whites.

Family values? Highest rate of teen births. Illegal aliens ten times more likely to commit serious crime than legal immigrants (Rep Elton Gallegly). See Anaheim stats

Why doesn't O'Reilly challenge this nonsense?

Representative of the other Mexican immigrants?
"Drop-out rates for Hispanic students, especially for the large numbers of second-generation origin, are the highest of all major ethnic/racial groups."

O'Reilly needs an education.

PURE NONSENSE.

"Based on estimates developed by the National Academy of Sciences for immigrants by age and education at arrival, the lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a negative $55,200."

You should know. I tell every contractor working on my home that if it is learned I have an illegal alien working there, I am in trouble, and so are they.