THE HOST OF the wildly popular ‘Colbert Report’, Stephen Colbert, is today appearing before a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives in an unusual attempt to highlight the working conditions of illegal immigrant farm workers.
CNN reports that the House’s judiciary subcommittee on Immigration & Border Security invited the presenter to testify after last night’s episode of his show depicted him undertaking the work of the farm labourers after being challenged by the United Farm Workers union to experience their conditions firsthand.
Testifying in character (Colbert’s show is an elaborate satire of those of right-wing presenters like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly), Colbert said America “had to do something” about their working conditions, “because I am not going back out there.”
Colbert was asked to leave the room before his testimony by one member, who said that his mere presence had already drawn attention to the issue. The dissenting member in question, John Conyers, was overruled by chairwoman Zoe Lofgren who said he was present at her request.
Though the comedian had submitted a deadpan prepared testimony, he frequently departed from it to insert jokes – including one gag, according to MSNBC, about entering the records of his colonoscopy into the congressional record.
“I like talking about people who don’t have any power,” he said, commenting that undocumented farm workers seemed to have almost no power at all.
The United States was simultaneously inviting immigrants to work in the country, but trying to boot them out – a contradiction he found unusual.
“Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers,” he added.
The United Farm Workers had invited Colbert to join them working as part of their ‘Take Our Jobs‘ campaign, which aims to dispel the notion that illegal immigrant farm workers take jobs that could otherwise be available to American citizens.
Since the nationwide campaign was launched, they say just seven people have contacted them to take up their offer.
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