Comedy Central’s Ronny Chieng welcomed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to the Tuesday taping of The Daily Show for a short two-question interview. Chieng’s first question was simply to ask how Wu became mayor, while the second put the ball on the tee for her to deliver her ode to sanctuary cities. Afterwards, Chieng would heap praise on his guest, telling her she is “the best.”

Chieng praised Wu’s recent Congressional testimony, “But right now, it feels like everyone, you know, politicians, everyone hates politicians now more than ever. Recently, you got, I guess you got—you testified in Congress about sanctuary cities, which is one issue in many things, and you defended yourself well.”

He then wondered, “What do you say to the people who, in your constituency who might feel like, ‘Hey, why are we doing this? What is the big deal with this sanctuary city thing? If people are illegally in the country, shouldn’t we arrest them and get rid of them? What is the big deal?’”

Wu responded by painting a picture of a dystopian, crime-ridden hellscape that would befall Boston if it weren’t a sanctuary city and immigration law were to be enforced, “Yeah, again, we are the safest city because we are safe for everyone. In a community where over a quarter of your residents come from—were born in another country, if people are afraid to drop their kids off at school or call 911 when they need help, or share information when they actually have information to report about a crime that happened, that makes everyone less safe, whether or not you are an immigrant, whether or not you are here in this country, six generations or just arrived.”

 She also tried to claim that the city’s economic, health and education systems would collapse:

 So, we’re really focused on being that home for everyone, and it has worked. And so all of the buzz around, you know, whether these kinds of cities that are more welcoming for immigrants are more dangerous, it is about a false narrative that immigrants are somehow more likely to commit crimes or cause harm and that is just simply not true. We know that in our city, where our immigrant communities are entrepreneurs, are holding up the best hospitals in the country, the universities, and jobs that we all rely on, and in order to make sure that we can keep that progress going, everyone has to feel part of it. That is a legacy of Boston and that’s the legacy I am really proud to be able to carry on today and every day.  

Considering all the non-sanctuary cities that haven’t devolved into chaos, that seems like a stretch. However, Chieng simply ended, “Okay, so Mayor Wu, you’re the best. Thank you for representing all Asians. Thank you for making the city of Boston great. Appreciate all you do, I know it is a very thankless task. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, everybody.”

 After that praise, “very thankless” also doesn’t seem accurate.

Here is a transcript for the March 25 show:

Comedy Central The Daily Show

3/25/2024

11:27 PM ET

RONNY CHIENG: But right now, it feels like everyone, you know, politicians, everyone hates politicians now more than ever. Recently, you got, I guess you got — you testified in Congress about sanctuary cities, which is one issue in many things, and you defended yourself well. What do you say to the people who, in your constituency who might feel like, “Hey, why are we doing this? What is the big deal with this sanctuary city thing? If people are illegally in the country, shouldn’t we arrest them and get rid of them? What is the big deal?”

MICHELLE WU: Yeah, again, we are the safest city because we are safe for everyone. In a community where over a quarter of your residents come from — were born in another country, if people are afraid to drop their kids off at school or call 911 when they need help, or share information when they actually have information to report about a crime that happened, that makes everyone less safe, whether or not you are an immigrant, whether or not you are here in this country, six generations or just arrived.

So, we’re really focused on being that home for everyone, and it has worked. And so all of the buzz around, you know, whether these kinds of cities that are more welcoming for immigrants are more dangerous, it is about a false narrative that immigrants are somehow more likely to commit crimes or cause harm and that is just simply not true. We know that in our city, where our immigrant communities are entrepreneurs, are holding up the best hospitals in the country, the universities, and jobs that we all rely on, and in order to make sure that we can keep that progress going, everyone has to feel part of it. That is a legacy of Boston and that’s the legacy I am really proud to be able to carry on today and every day.

CHIENG: Okay, so Mayor Wu, you’re the best. Thank you for representing all Asians. Thank you for making the city of Boston great. Appreciate all you do, I know it is a very thankless task. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, everybody.