John Oliver Breaks Down Our Broken Asylum System—in Case You Didn’t Have Enough to Worry About

There’s a lot to be upset about these days, and John Oliver is just as upset as ever. This week on Last Week Tonight though, he took a break from talking about the ongoing pandemic to shed light on an equally disturbing situation also caused by a certain President’s lack of empathy.

Last night, Oliver highlighted how those seeking asylum in the U.S. are not just stopped from doing so, but put directly into harm’s way. As Oliver explains, our immigration system is the one, singular, sole area which the Trump administration has been diligent in their efforts. What are these efforts? Just the normal stuff, like creating such a selective and slow asylum process that potential immigrants at the U.S. and Mexico border now keep track of which families are next in line to try to get into the country via a literal college-ruled notebook. For those who do everything right, they may still find themselves sent back to the dangerous situations they attempted to flee from. It’s not the kind of episode where Oliver takes a light-hearted-but-series jab at an issue, but rather one that will remind you just how messed up things really are. If you want to find yourself being upset at something other than the, you know, pandemic, this one’s for you.