Friday on “Fox and Friends,” Fox News journalist Geraldo Rivera said that President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty was justified as a “leveling of the field,” since the immigration system has historically discriminated against Latinos.

Rivera got into a heated debate with The Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson. While Rivera was “delighted” that an estimated five million illegal immigrants would be able to “come out of the shadows,” Carlson was more concerned about American workers who could see their wages undercut.

“Please understand that the immigration system has for generations been skewed,” Rivera said. “First it was designed to be anti-Chinese. Then it was designed to be anti-Southern European. Then it was never an Ellis Island for Latinos. You have to understand that they are trying to make up ground.” (RELATED: Dem Rep: Republicans Wants To Use ‘Xenophobia’ And ‘Bigotry’ Against Latinos [VIDEO])

“There has been — and everyone admits it, and I hate to raise a flag that says racial preference or anything like that — but there is clear history that we wanted Northern Europeans, we didn’t want southern Europeans, we definitely didn’t want Africans or Chinese or South Asians. We prioritized. And now there is a leveling of the field.”

“I maintain that as a nation of immigrants, this process will sort itself out,” he continued. “Some people have had one leg up on the system. Others have been disadvantaged historically. It will work itself out.” (RELATED: NBC/WSJ Poll Shows Latinos Divided On Executive Amnesty)

“It’s a leveling of the field,” Carlson repeated, “I’m glad you said that. That kind of crystallizes what this is all about.”

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Rivera concluded. “I am delighted.”

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