American late-night television hosts have launched a scathing critique of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics and the president's recent policy focus, highlighting cratering public opinion and controversial agency standards.
Meyers Mocks ICE's 'Army of Out-of-Shape Uncles'
On his show Late Night, Seth Meyers opened by reminding viewers how President Trump initially framed his mass deportation agenda. "He said, 'We are going to start with violent criminals,' again and again," Meyers noted, arguing this was a misleading sales pitch to voters.
Meyers contended the reality is far from that promise. "It would have been much less popular if Trump had announced his plan was to hire an army of out-of-shape uncles to hang around Target and aggressively ask people where they were born," he joked.
The host pointed to specific incidents, including ICE agents blocking roads and using pepper spray at a high school in Minnesota, and making arrests at a Target store. "Why the hell is ICE spending time at Target?" he fumed. "What's next? Are they going to deport the Target dog?"
Lowered Standards and Public Backlash
Meyers highlighted reports that the rush to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement has led to lowered recruitment standards. The basic fitness test for new recruits requires just 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run in 14 minutes, a standard some senior officials have called "pathetic" and "a disaster."
Further issues included inadequate vetting, with some recruits found to have criminal backgrounds or failed drug tests. Nearly half failed a written exam, even with access to notes and textbooks. "How the fuck do you fail an open-book test?" Meyers quipped.
Citing polls showing widespread disapproval, Meyers concluded: "Most Americans do not want armed agents wreaking havoc in their schools, neighborhoods and grocery stores, especially when those armed agents are not even qualified for the job."
Kimmel and Colbert on Milk and More
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host also touched on Trump's interest in purchasing Greenland, before mocking the president's White House event. "This morning, I read that Trump was holding an MLK event in the Oval Office," Kimmel said. "It turned out it wasn't ... about MLK. It was about M-I-L-K."
Trump had signed a bipartisan bill allowing schools to offer whole and 2% milk, reversing Obama-era restrictions. "Whole milk. It's actually a legal definition... It's not 'hole' milk. It's 'whole' milk," Trump stated. Kimmel retorted: "Does he think that we think that milk comes from a hole?"
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert on The Late Show mocked the administration's social media post declaring it was "ending the war on protein." On the milk bill, he joked: "And this is great news for the many Americans who have been demanding this change. How many? About 2%."
Colbert also played a clip of an autoworker in Michigan calling Trump a "pedophile protector," to which the president responded with his middle finger. "That is the most crudely hostile response from the leader of our country," Colbert said, linking it to unanswered questions about the unreleased Epstein files.
