Joe Rogan called the Trump administration’s immigration raids on workplaces “insane” and said the federal government would be better off targeting “cartel members,” “gang members” and “drug dealers.”
Rogan, host of the wildly popular Spotify podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” also said during Wednesday’s episode that he didn’t agree with the administration’s detention of a green card holder and a graduate student over criticism of Israel.
Rogan offered up his comments as the Trump administration resumed and intensified rounding up undocumented laborers, reversing a brief mid-June pause that had applied to sectors like agriculture, hospitality and food processing.
Despite earlier assurances that these industries might receive temporary relief, ICE has carried out large-scale enforcement actions — including at meatpacking plants and restaurants — detaining over 100,000 individuals in June.
Business leaders have warned the raids will lead to severe labor shortages.
“It’s insane,” Rogan said during a chat with tech entrepreneur Amjad Masad.
“We were told there would be no — well, there’s two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers. Just construction workers. Showing up in construction sites, raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?”
Masad responded: “Yeah, I don’t know what you think of the new administration. Certainly, there are things that I like about it, some of their pro-tech posture and things like that. But what’s happening now is — it’s kind of disappointing.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin refuted their assertions.
“The official data tells the real story: an overwhelming majority of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. Further, many illegal aliens categorized as “non-criminals” are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and worse — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the US. This deceptive “non-criminal” categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public.
“Secretary (Kristi) Noem has unleashed the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to target the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists. We are putting the American people first by removing illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities.”
Masad, a Jordanian-born software engineer and CEO of coding platform Replit, went on to slam immigration enforcement actions on college campuses against anti-Israel protesters.
“Did you see this video of this Turkish student at Tufts University that wrote an essay and then there’s video of like, ICE agents, like –”
Rogan interjected, “Is that the woman?”
Masad replied, “Yeah, yeah.”
Rogan asked, “Yeah. What was her essay about? It was just critical of Israel, right?”
“Just critical of Israel, yeah,” Masad confirmed.
Rogan responded, “And that’s enough to get you kicked out of the country.”
Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, was detained by federal officials in Massachusetts in March and held in a Louisiana facility for weeks after the Department of Homeland Security claimed she supported Hamas in an op-ed for the campus newspaper.
In May, a federal judge blocked her deportation, calling the detention baseless. She was released and allowed to return to Tufts while her deportation case proceeds in the courts.
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Rogan also referenced the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian-born Palestinian and US permanent resident and graduate student at Columbia University.
Khalil, who was a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March after the Trump administration cited alleged false information on his green card application.
The administration, which alleged that Khalil’s campus activities posed a threat to US foreign policy, also invoked a rarely used immigration law to cite as the basis for his deportation.
Khalil was held for more than 100 days at a Louisiana detention facility before he was released on June 20.
A White House rep defended the administration’s actions pertaining to Khalil and Ozturk.
“Receiving a visa to study in the United States is a privilege not a right. The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight to remove dangerous aliens who pose a risk to American security and interests, and have no right to be in this country,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Post.
Rogan, who commands an audience of roughly 10 million listeners — most of whom are young men — publicly endorsed Trump for president on the eve of the 2024 election, calling Elon Musk’s case for Trump “the most persuasive argument” and stating, “I concur with him at every turn.”
Though once a vocal critic of Trump, Rogan’s support marked a major shift that the Trump campaign touted as a significant win with young male voters.
Last month, Rogan advocated for a path to citizenship for undocumented migrants who live and work in the US without breaking the law.
“Yeah maybe you shouldn’t have snuck in,” Rogan said at the time.
“But you did it, and you’re not breaking any laws and you’re a hardworking person. Those people need a path to citizenship, man. Because if you don’t, then they’re just preyed upon.”
