Stephen Colbert explains the wave of Latino child immigrants hitting America

Since October, more than 47,000 unaccompanied young immigrants have been detained along the U.S. border with Mexico, most of them coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. There are some probable reasons for this unprecedented wave of immigrant kids, Stephen Colbert explained on Wednesday night's Colbert Report — rumors that the U.S. is handing out immigration permission slips and rampant gang violence at home, for example.

But this isn't Frontline or 60 Minutes, so Colbert also looked at the more entertaining, admittedly conspiratorial explanations coming from some conservatives. Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) thinks it might be an Obama plot, and Tucker Carlson provides a motive. "So, just to recap," Colbert said: "The president is kidnapping thousands of Central American children to take them to the U.S. to swell voter rolls and singlehandedly destroy the flour tortilla industry." If you actually want to learn about the problem and policies, watch until the end, when Colbert is joined by NPR southwest correspondent John Burnett. --Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up