When it comes to the border crisis, both the Republican and Democratic Parties are to blame, says Jon Stewart.
The talk show host didn’t mince his words when he excoriated both parties for their approach toward migrants pouring through the US border.
“There were 300,000 crossings in December alone. That’s an all-time high, and that is not sustainable,” Stewart said on Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show.”
“But Republicans turned down the chance to pass a strong border bill supported by the Border Patrol Union because of how confident they are that fearmongering will be an effective election-year strategy,” he continued.
Jon Stewart unpacks the GOP’s “migrant crime” narrative, and how Biden and Trump are approaching the border issue. https://t.co/DU0lzOyeQF
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 5, 2024
Hammering the GOP on immigration isn’t new for Stewart, but this time, he went after Democratic politicians too — accusing some members of the party for their stance on migrants.
On his show, Stewart played clips of Democratic leaders like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams voicing their support for immigration.
“This is a place where the Statue of Liberty sits in the harbor, and we say, ‘Bring us your tired. Those who are yearning to be free,'” Adams said during a press conference in August 2022.
But Adams’ rhetoric on immigration changed significantly in less than a year, as Stewart pointed out later in his monologue.
“We have no more room in this city,” Adams said at a press conference in July 2023, per a clip Stewart played on “The Daily Show.” Adams, who was elected in 2021, announced in May that he would send asylum seekers in the city to upstate New York, calling it a “decompression strategy.”
“What about the yearnings and the tiredness, and the tiredness of those who are doing the yearning?” Stewart said.
“Yes, it turns out in the age-old battle between values and fear, values never had a fucking chance,” he said, adding that it just took “two busloads of Venezuelans” to get Adams to change his position.
“So this is the terrible cycle America is caught in,” Stewart said at the segment’s conclusion. “Democrats, whose high-minded values and principles did not survive a contact high with reality, and Republicans whose desire to solve the problem isn’t nearly as strong as their desire to exploit it.”
President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection, has been slammed by the GOP for his handling of migration on the Southern border. In September, a Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that 62% of respondents disapproved of Biden’s handling of immigration.
Meanwhile, GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump has been celebrating the collapse of the Biden administration’s bipartisan immigration bill. The bill failed to pass in the Senate last month after garnering only 49 votes, far short of the 60 required.
The bill would have included essential measures to strengthen US-Mexico border security and overhaul the US asylum system. Trump and the GOP’s rejection of it now sets immigration up to be a core issue at the polls in 2024.
