Geraldo Reacts to Young Marine Shot Dead by an Illegal Alien

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 13, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly.

In the "Geraldo" segment this week, the crackdown on illegal immigrants and those who hire them and the shocking, shocking report about the Duke lacrosse rape case.

And here he is, star of the syndicated program, "Geraldo at Large", Geraldo himself.

Here's his mother, you know, and the lawyer and he was this Marine, and he comes back, and this guy kills her — and you know, and Homeland Security knew that he had this [rap] sheet, and nobody did anything.

If you were the father of that Marine, you'd do the same thing, wouldn't you?

GERALDO RIVERA, HOST, "GERALDO AT LARGE": Definitely. But I want to say — I want to say a couple of things I think it's very important for me to say. Because if I don't say it, no one else is going to say it.

I feel terrible for that family and their loss and the two other victims of this Miguel Padilla, who by all accounts is a terrible person. And he's sentenced to die now. His appeals will drag on for a while, because of some complicated issues...

O'REILLY: The Mexican government wants him back. You know all of that.

RIVERA: Well, the Mexican government, like many governments, does not have a death penalty.

O'REILLY: A death penalty, right.

RIVERA: But I want to say this as crystal clear as I possibly can. I feel sorry for every family of the over 16,000 murder victims in our country. This is not an issue of illegal immigration. This is an issue of a scum bag murderer who killed three people.

O'REILLY: But it's more than that. You must see that. If you have a system that will not deport violent people when they shouldn't be here in the first place...

RIVERA: Oh, I have no objection.

O'REILLY: That's the story. The system is broken.

RIVERA: I believe that once an illegal alien falls into the criminal justice system...

O'REILLY: Right, and they still let him go.

RIVERA: ... and he does his time, he has to get deported.

O'REILLY: There was no time!

RIVERA: He has to get deported.

O'REILLY: Right. There was no time. Two — two convictions.

RIVERA: But still — her beef is that he had these processes, and they were misdemeanor convictions.

O'REILLY: But they were violent convictions, and they pled him down. They pled him down.

RIVERA: Her beef is that once he was in the criminal justice system then they should have referred...

O'REILLY: Booted him out! Right!

RIVERA: And on that I have no argument.

O'REILLY: Right.

RIVERA: But that's not about the 11 million or more illegal aliens in this country...

O'REILLY: No. Nobody is condemning...

RIVERA: ... like most meat workers. That is the biggest jive mass bust. I'm telling you, what they did to Swift & Company. I did a documentary in 19 — in 2000, in the year 2000, on the Hispanic burgeoning population. I based — I did every one of those meat-packing plants. I went all through the heartland of this country. Everybody knew who worked at the Swift and Company.

O'REILLY: So they have to start punishing them now!

RIVERA: And for the government to raid and say they're raiding it because of some other criminal act, that is a bunch of baloney and they should be ashamed of themselves...

O'REILLY: Well, wait a minute.

RIVERA: The people raiding the meat packing plants should have been going after the Miguel Padilla's of the world, these violent people and deporting them.

O'REILLY: You've got to do it all. You've got to do it all.

RIVERA: You have to regulate and normalize these people's existence. The fact that they could work in the Swift and Company plant, every church is a Spanish church in that town. Every restaurant's a Spanish restaurant.

O'REILLY: I'm not — I'm not opposed to that.

RIVERA: They speak Spanish on the streets. Anyone who wants to pretend they didn't know is a hypocrite.

O'REILLY: Listen, you have to do it all. You have to figure out a way to normalize it.

RIVERA: You have to have a comprehensive immigration plan.

O'REILLY: You've got to punish Swift and other people who do this.

RIVERA: Swift and Company, closed. The — they produce, I don't know, a huge percentage of our processed meat in this country. They closed for the day. I don't know when they're going to reopen. Who benefits from that? Who benefits? Some P.R. guy at I.C.E., who says, look...

O'REILLY: It sends a message to other people.

RIVERA: Do you feel safer that they closed Swift and Company because they're illegal aliens?

O'REILLY: Do I feel safer? You know what I feel safer about? That finally the federal government is looking at the border, is looking at the businesses. And I want them to start looking at that.

RIVERA: This is Iowa.

O'REILLY: It doesn't matter where it is!

RIVERA: People have families. They have roots there.

O'REILLY: Everybody has family.

RIVERA: Do you what it's like to work in a meat packing plant? Do you know what it's like to kill those cows?...

O'REILLY: Geez, I can't believe you.

RIVERA: And carve those steaks? Do you know why they're working there, they're almost exclusively illegal? Because no citizen will take that crappy job.

O'REILLY: That's bull. I don't believe that for a second.

RIVERA: It is not, Bill, why do you think they're doing it?

O'REILLY: Because Mexico can't provide them with jobs. That's why!

RIVERA: But United States unemployment is four percent. Where are you going to find people to fill those jobs? You can't. You can't.

O'REILLY: Then they come here legally. Then they come here legally.

RIVERA: Build your seven foot wall for seven hundred billion dollars.

O'REILLY: I'll put you in charge and you can be in charge of the guest worker program.

RIVERA: I should be!

O'REILLY: Let them come here legally.

RIVERA: I'd throw Padilla's behind out of this country. These hard-working people deserve these jobs.

O'REILLY: You are basically saying to every person south of the border come on here and come here anyway you can.

RIVERA: The Minuteman and the nativists who are against these people, do you want this job? I'm going to give you $40,000. Do you want to cut the heads off cows? Do you want that job?

O'REILLY: You can do that legally. You can set up the program where they would get those jobs.

RIVERA: You know why the union is fighting for them? Because they are the union. And that's why...

O'REILLY: I know that. They want them as members.

RIVERA: Those people should have green cards. They are vital to the national security. No one else wants that job.

O'REILLY: If it were your program this thing would never stop. And it's got to stop.

All right. Now we've got to get to Duke.

RIVERA: OK.

O'REILLY: Now this is in the Raleigh...

RIVERA: Terrible, Duke. What happened is terrible.

O'REILLY: Yes. This is in the Raleigh newspaper today: DNA found on the rape accuser.— And we know this is a bogus case now, we've said this for months. — Does not watch the three defendants. It's over, right?

RIVERA: It should have been over when they had the rigged lineup.

O'REILLY: Right.

RIVERA: The photo lineup where only suspects were included. There are constitutional infirmities. This case cannot survive even if it got a conviction, could not survive appeal.

O'REILLY: Right.

RIVERA: This should have been dropped. The fact that you have now potential prosecutorial misconduct. What is it? A DNA test result that was not given to the defense. It is fundamental justice in our country...

O'REILLY: Can we arrest and go after Nifong? Can we put him in jail? Can we do that?

RIVERA: Well, I don't know who's responsible for suppressing the information.

O'REILLY: It's Nifong, is the guy.

RIVERA: Maybe it was the police investigator. I mean, it certainly deserves someone to check it out.

O'REILLY: But say it's Nifong. Say Nifong held back the DNA report...

RIVERA: Intentionally?

O'REILLY: Yes. —that clears the three kids. Would you put him in jail for that?

RIVERA: I would argue — I would argue that...

O'REILLY: Can you and Greta get him in jail? You're both attorneys. Can you and Greta get the guy in jail?

RIVERA: That would be a violation of the criminal code of North Carolina.

O'REILLY: I want this Nifong in jail.

And I want you and Greta to put him there. All right? That's not too much to ask?

RIVERA: Not so much. As long as you let these other people stay in the country and do their jobs.

O'REILLY: Yes, everybody, Geraldo. And they'll all live at your house.

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