In one of the most contentious exchanges of Tuesday night's GOP debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry accused Mitt Romney of being a fraud on immigration issues, saying, "Mitt, you lose all of your standing, in my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home … The idea that you stand here before us … is on its face, the height of hypocrisy.”

Perry's allegation is a reference to a Boston Globe story from 2007 that a contractor Romney hired for landscaping services had employed illegal immigrants. Romney asserts that, once he found out, he fired the contractor and employees in question.

Romney blasted back, I've never "hired an illegal in my life..."

"It's been a tough couple of debates for Rick, and I understand that, and he's gonna get testy."

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/v/jD5NCpfMBNM?version=3&hl=en_US expand=1]