During a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience featuring Duncan Trussell, host Joe Rogan made his position clear on the Trump administration’s aggressive ICE enforcement operations. While discussing the ongoing protests in Portland and the broader immigration debate, Rogan expressed strong reservations about the methods being employed in the current deportation efforts.
“The way it looks is horrific,” Rogan stated during the conversation. “When you’re just arresting people in front of their kids and just normal regular people that have been here for 20 years, everybody who has a heart can’t get along with that.”
His comments came amid widespread criticism of ICE operations that have seen dramatic increases in arrests and deportations since the new administration took office.
Rogan’s critique focused particularly on the human cost of the enforcement actions. “You have to think, look, yeah, we have to have a border. Yes, it should have been secure. Yes, they should make sure you know who everybody is before they get in. But when people have been here for 20 years, like come on, man. That’s crazy,” he said, advocating for a more nuanced approach that considers the circumstances of long-term residents.
The podcast host painted a vivid picture of the moral complexity surrounding current immigration enforcement. He described scenarios where individuals who have lived in America for decades, raised families, and contributed to their communities are suddenly facing deportation. “Let’s find a way if they’ve been productive members of society for 20 years, no criminal record, they worked the entire time, they paid taxes, find them a pathway to citizenship,” Rogan argued.
Perhaps most tellingly, Rogan expressed disappointment with how the enforcement has unfolded, admitting he had different expectations. “I really thought they were just going to go after the criminals. I really thought there was enough gang members and enough people MS-13 members and whatever they were looking for that they would go after those guys,” he said.
The reality, he suggested, has been far broader and more indiscriminate than he anticipated.