Jon Stewart slams ‘villainy’ of Trump’s immigration policy

Comedian Jon Stewart tore into President Trump on Thursday, accusing him of acting with a “Dickensian level of villainy” by implementing a policy that separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Donald, you could have absolutely made a more stringent border policy that would have made your point about enforcement,” Stewart said on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “But I guess it wouldn’t have felt right without a Dickensian level of villainy.”

{mosads}”You casually separated people seeking asylum from their children — from their babies,” he added. “You may be orange, you may like hamburgers, you may be a clown. But you are no Ronald McDonald.”

Trump has faced fierce public backlash in recent weeks over his administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that called for the prosecution of anyone who illegally crossed into the U.S. via the southern border.

Stewart’s comments came a week after Trump, capitulating to public pressure, signed an executive order allowing children to be detained with their parents. 

But the details of how that order will be implemented remain unclear. Children are not allowed to be detained for more than 20 days — a limit that does not apply to adults.

A federal judge in San Diego this week ordered the federal government to swiftly reunite immigrant children with their parents within 30 days. Children under the age of 5 must be reunited with their families within 14 days, the judge ordered.