--- title: Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump's Softening on Immigration description: "There could be a softening. It happens to a lot of men his age." canonical: https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-31T15:30:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:03.318Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump's Immigration Comments og:description: "There could be a softening. It happens to a lot of men his age." og:url: https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e3d608a5f2ff2b1/6988a1735f570f3004b221cf/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump's Immigration Comments twitter:description: "There could be a softening. It happens to a lot of men his age." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e3d608a5f2ff2b1/6988a1735f570f3004b221cf/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Mocks Donald Trump's Evolving Immigration Stance by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 31, 2016 3:30 PM UTC  "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert airing live in New York. "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert airing live in New York.Scott Kowalchyk—CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 31, 2016 3:30 PM UTC [John Oliver](http://time.com/4452468/john-oliver-donald-trump-sarcasm-video/?iid=sr-link5) is on hiatus, which means Stephen Colbert has stepped up to the challenge of mocking Donald Trump. In advance of the Republican presidential nominee’s speech on immigration—scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Arizona—Colbert took a closer look at [Trump’s immigration policy](http://time.com/4472127/donald-trump-deportation-2016-election-immigration/?xid=homepage), which has been evolving recently. “I’m quoting his supporters here: ‘Huh?’,” said Colbert, before noting that until a few weeks ago, Trump’s immigration policy has been based on two things: “Build the wall and deport ’em all,” which Colbert’s chyron interpreted as “Worst Dr. Seuss book ever.” Colbert notes that as Trump’s poll numbers have shrunk (but are “still bigger than his hands”), Trump told a town hall crowd, “there could be a softening” towards law-abiding, tax-paying illegal immigrants. That’s where Colbert saw his entrance: “There could be a softening,” he said. “It happens to a lot of men his age.” Or as his chyron put it: “Electile Dysfunction.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Mocks Donald Trump's Evolving Immigration Stance","datePublished":"2016-08-31T15:30:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:03.318Z","description":"\"There could be a softening.\"","url":"https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","2016 presidential election","Donald Trump","the late show"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e3d608a5f2ff2b1/6988a1735f570f3004b221cf/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e3d608a5f2ff2b1/6988a1735f570f3004b221cf/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"\"The Late Show\" with Stephen Colbert airing live in New York on July 25, 2016.","creditText":"Scott Kowalchyk—CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4473982/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trumps-evolving-immigration-stance/","name":"Stephen Colbert Mocks Donald Trump's Evolving Immigration Stance"}}]}] ```