Jon Stewart on the Migrant Crisis: Funny, but Not Helpful

By Dustin Rowles | TV | March 5, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | March 5, 2024 |

Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show last night, and after a brief segment in which Desi Lydic tried to find other ways the Democrats could win this November outside of the ballot box, Stewart took in the crisis at the border. He does a mean Dirty (Dr.) Phil impression, but otherwise, lays out the issue but like his segment on Joe Biden, doesn’t offer solutions.

To be fair, it is not Jon Stewart’s job to provide solutions to America’s problems. But things aren’t great. Over 300,000 people crossed the Southern border in December alone, and while Stewart mocks New York City Mayor Adams for welcoming immigrants into America … until New York City ran out of room, that is not an unfair position. Here in my home city of Portland, Maine, we were very welcoming until we had to house hundreds of asylum seekers in a basketball arena two summers in a row.

There is almost certainly room in America to accommodate two million migrants a year, but I suspect most of that room is in places where they’d be the least welcome. In the meantime, Joe Biden and the Republican Congress did come up with legislation to curb the influx of new people, but a spiteful, petty Donald Trump put the kibosh on it because he wants to wait until he gets into office so that he can do cruel things to people who’re simply looking for a better life.

Jon Stewart’s take seems to be that this is only a problem in election years when the Republicans need another weapon against the Democrats. But I’m not so sure of that anymore because I have visited the windowless basketball arena filled with hundreds of cots. While there is no concern about “criminals, rapists,” and “Hannibal Lecter,” as the Republicans warn, it’s no way to live. If that’s the best that a sincerely welcoming city can do, it’s definitely an issue. A Trump presidency probably would curb immigration, mostly because the country would be a less hospitable place to live for immigrants and citizens alike.