Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took on Democratic Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar Tuesday over the issue of illegal immigrants voting in the city, and it got testy.

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“You may not get this on your political life often,” Carlson said. “But it has to do with citizenship, which is the foundation of the country. So what is the distinction between citizens and non-citizens? What do citizens get that non-citizens don’t? Why is that a meaningful distinction?”

“Well, citizens have access to a Social Security card,” Pawar said. “And some have more access to our social safety net. Those distinctions have always been in place, which is why people work so hard to come here to become a part of our American fabric. It’s why my parents came here. I just don’t believe that these dog whistles–and I’m not suggesting you’re making them–what I am saying is that people around the country…”

The Daily Caller co-founder asked, “What do you mean by dog whistle? What does that mean?”

“What I mean by dog whistle is that there seems to be a national rhetoric to pit poor white people against poor black and brown people,” Pawar said.

Tucker hit back when he said that.

“I know you have a history of race baiting, so I’m not surprised you did that,” he said.

“But I just want to ask you, let’s be real, this is Chicago. Chicago is not a city where anybody is trying to win a lot of poor white voters. African-American voters are dissatisfied with the mayor. And everyone I know who covers Chicago politics says, this is an effort to basically ignore them in favor of a new class of voters, some of them non-citizens. So it’s not about whites on any level,” Carlson said.

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