Fox News Airs a Weird Argument Against Immigration Reform

July 17, 2013— -- Whatever arguments you've heard against immigration reform so far, you probably haven't heard this one.

A talking head on Fox News took a blunt approach to explaining why he doesn't support legalizing undocumented immigrants during a July 15 appearance on "Your World with Neil Cavuto."

The liberal media watchdog group Media Matters has the clip, featuring former federal immigration agent Michael Cutler, a frequently quoted voice against increased immigration.

Here's what Media Matters posted:

I had a front-row seat to the '86 amnesty. If you give lawful status to a bunch of illegal aliens who are being exploited, guess what, they will no longer be willing to be exploited. They will demand to be paid on the books, they will have the right to expect that they will be treated equally as Americans, but more importantly, they will have an equal standing in a labor pool that's already unable to find work. An alien who is naturalized or given employment authorization legally cannot be discriminated against, so they could get the same jobs that Americans desperately need to avoid losing their homes to foreclose.

That's not the whole story, according to Cutler, who spoke with ABC-Univision on Tuesday. His point is that once undocumented immigrants get legal status, unscrupulous employers will let them go and look for a new wave of off-the-books workers.

"If you legalize these folks, the scumbags who exploit them won't be able to, so they're not going to hire them, they'll hire illegal aliens," Cutler said. "I don't want to see anyone exploited, from any country, under any circumstance."

That said, Cutler doesn't support immigration reform and doesn't think undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. should be offered legal status.

"It's an open invitation to widespread fraud," he said.