Fox & Friends Celebrates Hispanic Heritage -- Right After Dubbing Millions Of Them “Illegals”

Fox News celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by introducing a series on Latino success stories just minutes after Fox & Friends co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy tossed around the derogatory term “illegals” and misleadingly suggested undocumented immigrants might be able to vote.

Host Elizabeth Hasselbeck kicked off Fox's month-long celebration by highlighting “remarkable stories from inside the Latino community” on the September 19 edition of Fox & Friends. The first installment was a sit-down interview with musician José Feliciano. The series is being produced in cooperation with Fox News CEO Roger Ailes' foundation, the Ailes Apprentice Program, which promotes diversity in newsrooms.

Just 15 minutes prior to the Hispanic Heritage segment, contributor Geraldo Rivera appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's new program to issue municipal ID cards to residents, which come with benefits like free admission to the zoo. Introducing the story, Doocy claimed that the IDs can be used “to vote in local and state elections. It's predominantly for illegals, and there are half a million here in New York City.” Rivera protested, “I prefer the term undocumented,” but Kilmeade replied, “I prefer the term 'illegal.'”

Doocy insisted that the ID cards can be used to vote in local and state elections, but not federal elections. Rivera responded, “I absolutely do not” believe that is true.

But Rivera is correct: The municipal IDs cannot be used to vote in local, state, or federal elections.