Colbert Testifies Before House Subcommittee

On Friday, September 24th, political satirist and comedian Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, took Capitol Hill by storm to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. Colbert entered the Rayburn House Office Building in character to bring attention to the problems facing illegal immigrant farm workers in the United States. The bill being debated before the committee was HR 2414, the AgJOBS Act of 2009, presented by Representative Howard Berman (D-CA); HR 2414 aims “to improve agricultural job opportunities, benefits, and security for aliens in the United States, and for other purposes.”


The subcommittee convened at 9:30am with Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) calling the meeting to order and opening statements were read by members of the committee. Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Colbert to leave the committee but retracted his request when Rep. Lofgren insisted Colbert stay for the duration of the meeting. The ranking member of the subcommittee, Representative Steve King (R-IA), took aim at Colbert for his 10 hour stint as a farm worker, insinuating that it was a fraud. King perceived Colbert’s testimony as a joke and a waste of the taxpayers money.

Colbert’s opening statement did not disappoint when it came to humor. Colbert claimed he didn’t know the Earth’s soil is at ground level. “If you can put a man on the moon, why can’t we make the Earth waist high? Where is the funding?” Colbert exclaimed. Colbert even submitted a video of his most recent colonoscopy into the congressional record. Nonetheless, Colbert ended seriously by emphasizing the lack of rights most migrant workers have in working on the farm and in the fields.

Appearing along side Colbert were three other witnesses: Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers union (pictured above with Colbert); Carol Swain, Political Science and Law Professor at Vanderbilt University; and Phil Glaize, a representative from the United States Apple Association and Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.