In the past year, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel has become one of broadcast television’s strongest late night host-cum-political pundits. Yet former Daily Show correspondent turned Colbert Report lead Stephen Colbert hasn’t trailed too far behind him over at CBS’ The Late Show. Sure enough, he opened Thursday’s episode with a desk bit seemingly about Father’s Day that quickly transformed into a biblical condemnation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to use religious doctrine while defending the Justice Department’s harsh immigration policies and practices — specifically those tearing immigrant families apart.
CNN and others have reported for days that hundreds of immigrant parents are being separated from their children per policies now being enforced by the Justice Department. While Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was called out over the matter on Thursday, Sessions cited a passage from the New Testament to defend the practice on Thursday. Colbert, himself a practicing Roman Catholic, wasn’t impressed.
“If that sounds evil, then good news! Your ears are working,” he began:
“The only thing in the Bible close to this is a king threatened to cut a baby in two, and he was joking! But I will give Sessions this, that is what Romans 13:1 says. You’ve got to have laws. But if he’d just read a little bit further into Romans 13:10. It says, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.’ I’m not surprised Sessions didn’t read the whole thing. After all, Jesus said, ‘Suffer the children to come unto me.’ I’m pretty sure all Sessions saw were the words ‘children’ and ‘suffer’ and said, ‘I’m on it!'”
“This is the conversation everybody should be having,” said Colbert. “So for Father’s Day, call your elected representatives and demand they do something.” For good measure, he even threw in a loosely veiled reference to Samantha Bee’s controversial (and related) comments about Ivanka Trump. “I sincerely believe that it doesn’t matter who you voted for. If we let this happen in our name, we are a feckless country.”
