Joe Rogan condemns Trump’s ICE operation after Minnesota shooting

WASHINGTON, DC: Podcaster Joe Rogan, once a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, has publicly broken with the president over the federal government’s immigration enforcement after the ICE-involved killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

Rogan blasted the operation and questioned the militarized tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling the fatal shooting of the 37-year-old mother “horrific.” 

Joe Rogan criticizes Trump over ICE operation

Speaking on his podcast Tuesday, January 13, Joe Rogan criticized what he described as the growing militarization of immigration enforcement, warning against armed personnel patrolling neighborhoods and detaining people at random.

"You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them."

He questioned, "Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?" Rogan suggested that deploying National Guard troops as part of the crackdown sends the wrong message and raises serious concerns about civil liberties.

During the episode, which featured an interview with Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rogan said the immigration debate is far more complex than it is often portrayed.

The influential podcaster, who commands a large audience among younger men, has increasingly distanced himself from Trump in recent months, despite having supported him during the 2024 campaign. 

Trump appeared on Rogan’s podcast for a lengthy interview shortly before the election, part of a broader strategy to connect with younger voters through popular online personalities.

Joe Rogan says it’s ugly to watch a woman being shot in the face

Rogan said he sympathized with the ICE officer involved but believed Renee Good was turning her car away from the agent moments before she was shot. He described, "It's complicated, but it's also very ugly to watch someone shoot a US citizen, especially a woman, in the face."

He emphasized, "I'm not that guy. I don't know what he thought. And again, this is a guy who had almost been run over, but it just looked horrific to me. When people say it's justifiable because the car hit it, it seemed like she was kind of turning the car away."

Rogan also said he did not believe Good was mentally healthy before the encounter, describing her behavior as erratic, but he questioned whether that alone warranted deadly force.

He pointed to the growing confrontations between activists and ICE agents, saying "You got these people that are showing up at these ICE people, and they're blocking traffic, and she was one of them that was doing those kind of things where they think they're an activist, and they're an agitator."

Rand Paul added that local police, rather than federal agents, should ideally handle immigration enforcement, but argued that sanctuary city policies prevent local authorities from intervening.

Rogan has previously criticized immigration raids under the Trump administration, saying, "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."