Joe Rogan claims voters expected ICE to just target criminals, not workers

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Rogan says people protest ICE because they wanted just the 'gang members' deported, not 'the landscaper'

Podcaster Joe Rogan argued that American voters are frustrated to the point of protesting because they hoped ICE raids would merely target violent criminals, not laborers they and local businesses depend on.

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Joe Rogan claimed on Wednesday that American voters are frustrated because they had hoped ICE raids would only target violent criminals, not laborers.

The podcaster warned that ICE, by arresting people whose only crime was immigrating illegally, is alienating the electorate. Rogan, who endorsed Trump on the eve of the 2024 election and interviewed him during the campaign, criticized the president's immigration raids at construction sites and other workplaces during an early July episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience." 

Now, weeks later, Rogan made a similar critique after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., argued on his show that recent pop-up riots against ICE have been spurred by Chinese money in an effort to divide Americans, particularly before the midterms. Rogan responded that while that may be true to some degree, there is also some genuine belief the administration has gone too far.

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Podcaster Joe Rogan has criticized President Donald Trump's ICE raids multiple times this summer. (Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)

"So, I absolutely believe this is true, that I'm sure other countries fund similar things, but also it was a reaction to some of the ICE raids, right?" Rogan said. "It was a visceral reaction that a lot of people had to the idea of people just showing up and pulling people out of schools and pulling people out of Home Depot and pulling people that were just hardworking people that maybe snuck over here because they didn't have a legal way to get over here, but since they've been here, they've been good people and they're a part of communities."

The podcast host added further, "That's what freaks people out, because when people thought about ICE, they thought, ‘Great, we're going to get rid of the gang members.’ They didn't think, ‘Great, you're going to get rid of the landscaper.’"

"I’m sure some of these riots are manufactured, I’m sure they are," he later added, clarifying he doesn’t disagree with Luna’s assertions entirely. He also expressed his belief that America absolutely needs to enforce its border to prevent cartel members and other criminals from entering. "But the thing that freaks people out is, like, how many corporations rely on illegal labor?" he asked.

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President Donald Trump's interview with Joe Rogan was one of the key moments of the 2024 election, but the two have not always entirely agreed on policy. (Getty Images)

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He also empathized with the perspective of an illegal immigrant.

"If you’re just a landscaper, you’re just a guy who lives in a Third World country and you want a better life, and you say, ‘I heard you can get across, and I heard when you get across, you can get work’ — like, what is that guy going to do?" Rogan asked. "That guy doesn’t have the money to hire a lawyer. How is he gonna prove that he is more valuable than a United States citizen that’s already here doing the exact same job?"

Luna responded by arguing that both sides want the problem to continue because they benefit from it, a theory that frightened Rogan, who replied, "That’s so nuts, and probably so accurate."

Residents surround federal and Border Patrol agents after an immigrant raid on Atlantic Blvd. in Bell, California, on June 19, 2025.  (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Trump proposed making exceptions for millions of illegal laborers in various industries in July, while acknowledging this will enrage "radical-right people, who I also happen to like a lot."

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Fox News' Alec Schemmel and Kristine Parks contributed to this report.