Podcast host Joe Rogan is once again drawing attention for his comments on immigration — this time questioning the way U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is handling its operations and the effect it’s having on everyday people.
During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan spoke with Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna about the sudden wave of public protests against ICE enforcement. While Luna argued that foreign money, particularly from China, may be helping to stir up unrest, Rogan shifted the conversation toward what he believes is also fueling frustration at home.
He pointed to a growing discomfort among voters over immigration raids targeting non-violent workers, like those found at construction sites or retail stores. Rogan said many Americans had assumed ICE would focus on violent criminals or gang members. But, according to him, what they’re seeing instead are arrests of people who have lived quietly in the U.S. for years, contributing to their communities through work.
“It was a visceral reaction,” Rogan said of the public’s response to certain raids. “People just showing up and pulling people out of schools and pulling people out of Home Depot… 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.”
The conversation comes just weeks after Rogan interviewed former President Donald Trump and endorsed him ahead of the 2024 election. It also follows Trump’s July remarks proposing that some undocumented laborers — especially those working in essential industries — might be granted exceptions under a future immigration plan. That suggestion, Trump admitted at the time, could upset parts of his base.
Rogan said that many Americans support stronger borders, including himself. But he added that there’s also a real emotional toll when people watch immigrants who appear to be peacefully working get taken away by force. “That’s what freaks people out,” he said. “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.’”
Joe Rogan once again rips ICE raids: ‘Great, you’re going to get rid of the landscaper’ https://t.co/l3GNNpCPDp pic.twitter.com/GPPf1dAsuA
— New York Post (@nypost) August 14, 2025
He also wondered aloud how many U.S. businesses are quietly depending on illegal labor to stay afloat. That question, he said, complicates the moral and political debate. “How many corporations rely on illegal labor?” he asked. “And what does that mean for enforcement if no one wants to admit it?”
At one point in the conversation, Rogan even imagined what it would feel like to be on the other side of the border, just trying to provide for a family. “If you’re just a guy who lives in a Third World country and you want a better life,” he said, “and you say, ‘I heard you can get across, and I heard when you get across, you can get work’ — what is that guy going to do?”
NEW: Joe Rogan PRESSED President Donald J. Trump at a private dinner with UFC CEO Dana White to BACK OFF arresting and deporting illegal immigrant workers with “no criminal records,” just days before he slammed the president on his podcast for the “insane” ICE raids, according to… pic.twitter.com/65LOoZaaE0
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) July 11, 2025
Luna agreed with many of his concerns but took it a step further, arguing that both major political parties may be allowing the problem to continue because it benefits them — financially or politically. Rogan paused before replying: “That’s so nuts… and probably so accurate.”
