O'Reilly claimed to have exposed the “hidden agenda” behind the immigrant rights movement: “the browning of America”

On his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly claimed that on the April 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, guest Charles Barron, a New York City councilman, had revealed the “hidden agenda” behind the current immigration debate. O'Reilly told his listeners: "[T]he bottom line is Charles Barron said last night is there is a movement in this country to wipe out 'white privilege' and to have the browning of America." But in the April 11 interview, Barron at no point claimed that he and other advocates for immigrant rights are motivated by a desire to force white Americans into the minority -- despite O'Reilly's repeated efforts to provoke such an acknowledgment.


During the April 12 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor, host Bill O'Reilly claimed that on the April 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, guest Charles Barron, a New York City councilman, had revealed the “hidden agenda” behind the current immigration debate. O'Reilly told his listeners: "[T]he bottom line is Charles Barron said last night is there is a movement in this country to wipe out 'white privilege' and to have the browning of America." O'Reilly suggested that this “hidden agenda” included plans to let “people who live in the Caribbean, people who live in Africa and Asia ... walk in and become citizens immediately.” He then congratulated himself for exposing the “underside” of this issue: "[Y]ou know, we got it out; we got it out. Now it's out there in play." Further, he commended Barron for being “man enough to admit it.”

But in the April 11 interview, Barron at no point claimed that he and other advocates for immigrant rights are motivated by a desire to force white Americans into the minority -- despite O'Reilly's repeated efforts to provoke such an acknowledgment. O'Reilly asked: "[Y]ou'd like the changing America to be -- the dominant people would be people of color? ... But you want it to happen, do you not? ... Do you not want it to happen? ... [T]hat's the bottom line on it, isn't it, Charles? ... You want a totally different country." But Barron responded that this was not the bottom line. To the contrary, he argued that the growing minority population is instead driving the backlash on immigrants: “You fear that ... your white privilege will no longer exist. ... And that's why you have problems with immigration. Because it's the browning of America. ... You want to stay in control. You want to stay in power.”

Moreover, at no point in the interview did Barron advocate allowing foreigners from across the globe to enter the United States freely and immediately earn citizenship.

As the interview ended, O'Reilly declared, "[N]ow everyone knows what your true agenda is ... Now we know." Barron responded, “The true agenda is to treat all immigrants fairly as they treated your ancestors”

The following day, O'Reilly told his Radio Factor listeners, “Sometimes in an interview, you get lucky.” He then described Barron's purported “hidden agenda”: to “overthrow ... the white privileged Christian nation,” to institute an “open border where Hispanics, people who live in the Caribbean, people who live in Africa and Asia can walk in and become citizens immediately,” and to “have the browning of America.”

From the April 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Then why did so many people want to come here if we're so bad?

BARRON: Because there are places where they can do good here, if we allow for that to happen and we create change.

O'REILLY: Change?

BARRON: Change.

O'REILLY: So that means a changing America. You want a changing America.

BARRON: Of course America has to change.

O'REILLY: Right.

BARRON: Yes

O'REILLY: And you'd like the changing America to be -- the dominant people would be people of color?

BARRON: That's going to happen anyway, whether you like it or not.

O'REILLY: But you want it to happen, do you not?

BARRON: That's going to happen anyway.

O'REILLY: Do you not want it to happen?

BARRON: That's going to happen whether you or I want it or not.

O'REILLY: And that's the bottom line on it, isn't it, Charles?

BARRON: No.

O'REILLY: Yeah, it is.

BARRON: The bottom line is that you fear your white --

O'REILLY: I don't fear anything.

BARRON: -- your white privilege will no longer exist.

O'REILLY: I just want the rule the law.

BARRON: Rule of law.

O'REILLY: You want a totally different country.

BARRON: It's going to happen whether you like it or not, whether I want it or not. Look at New York City. The majority of the people in New York City are people of color.

O'REILLY: That -- hey, Charles --

BARRON: And that's why you have problems with immigration.

O'REILLY: And that's why I love you.

BARRON: Because of the browning of America.

O'REILLY: That's why I love you.

BARRON: You want to stay in control.

O'REILLY: Because now --

BARRON: You want to stay in power.

O'REILLY: I don't care about control at all.

BARRON: Yes, you do.

O'REILLY: But I love you, because now everyone knows what the true agenda is. That's what it is.

BARRON: The true agenda is to treat all immigrants fairly as they treated your ancestors.

O'REILLY: I gotta go. Charles Barron, everybody. Now we know.

From the April 12 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor:

O'REILLY: You know, sometimes in an interview you get lucky. And our goal is always to expose the underside of every, every issue we cover. Because there is usually a hidden agenda. Now, nowhere is this more apparent than in the illegal immigration debate. There is a hidden agenda in this debate that no one will tell you -- press won't tell you, politicians won't tell you, the illegal immigrants themselves won't tell you that. But there is. And it's vitally important to the country. Now, last night on the television side, we had New York City Councilman Charles Barron on the program. I hope you saw that. If you didn't, we're gonna play you the highlights of the interview in a couple of seconds.

[...]

O'REILLY: All right. There you go. White privilege. The browning of America. There it is. There it is. Bottom line on this? That's what it is. Change the complexion of America. Have an open border where Hispanics, people who live in the Caribbean, people who live in Africa and Asia can walk in and become citizens immediately. And there you have the white power structure would decline, of course. Because the numbers of people coming here would be people of color. Right? That's the hidden agenda.

See, nobody'll say that. Nobody'll say it. That's what it's all about. It's all about that on both sides, too. Because you have some white people saying, “I don't want to live in a country that has people of color in the majority.”

Now my take on it is this: I know where Charles Barron's coming from, and at least Barron was man enough to admit it. How many other programs have you heard anybody say that? But it's absolutely true, absolutely true. At least Barron's honest enough to say it.

[...]

O'REILLY: The unintended consequence of that is that America is going to change. It's going to change in cultural ways, in racial ways, in intellectual ways, in voting ways, in every way. Now, do we, as American citizens, all of us, want that change to come about through illegal methods? This isn't the ballot box. This is, throw it open, let anybody come, and then we'll have a new America. That's what Charles Barron wants, and it's absolutely what the left-wing press wants. They see an opportunity to overthrow what they call the white, privileged, Christian nation. They overthrow that.

Even though most Hispanics are Christian, the left believes that Hispanics who come to the USA will vote left. Now I'm not so convinced of that myself, but Barron certainly believes it. “People of color will vote the way I vote, and we'll kick out all the white people and we'll have a rainbow nation, not a white power structure.”

That's -- “white privilege” is the key words. The browning of America. Ladies and gentlemen, you know I hate to say it, because I don't like to debate this kind of stuff, I don't like to do colors-based programs, but that's the bottom line on this whole thing. That's where it is. There's no reason on earth the federal government doesn't secure the border. No reason on this earth. But they're afraid to be demonized as racist, because the real racists who want a color-based country attack them vehemently if they put up a wall or put the military on the border.

[...]

O'REILLY: But the bottom line is Charles Barron said last night is there is a movement in this country to wipe out, quote-unquote, “white privilege” and to have the browning of America. And, you know, we got it out; we got it out. Now it's out there in play. But, boy oh boy, you're not gonna hear that on anyplace else. You're not gonna hear it, but it's true. A lot of people want that.