Joe Rogan is publicly having a beef with the MAGA movement, criticizing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policy during the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Speaking with comedian Duncan Trussell, Rogan questioned the human cost of the new enforcement measures championed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The 58-year-old podcast host, who endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 election, admitted he was disturbed by what he now sees on America’s streets. “No one with a heart is going to go along with that,” Rogan said.
“And I did not ever anticipate seeing that on TV on a regular basis.” He added that he originally believed Trump’s policy would target only gang members and violent criminals. “I really thought they were just going to go after the criminals,” Rogan said. “I really thought there was enough gang members and enough people, MS-13 members and whatever they were looking for, that they would just go after those guys.”
Trussell voiced his own frustration with the administration’s tactics. “There must be a way to do this that doesn’t involve ripping parents out of their communities, away from their children,” he said.
“That doesn’t involve actually removing people who’ve been contributing to American society, sending people to other countries when they can’t even speak the language.” Rogan agreed, saying the current approach showed “no heart” and was turning compassionate Americans away from supporting border enforcement at all.
Since January, the Department of Homeland Security has reported that over two million undocumented immigrants have either been deported or have voluntarily left the United States. Republicans have directed about $75 billion in new funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while the National Guard has been deployed in several Democratic-led cities. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has taken a leading, and often theatrical, role in the administration’s immigration crackdown.
Noem has made headlines for her publicity stunts, joining ICE raids wearing a bulletproof vest, makeup, curled hair, and a baseball cap embroidered with the ICE logo. In one recent viral video, she was filmed confronting a migrant during an arrest but reportedly made a translation error while addressing the detainee. She was also criticized for a visit to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, where she posed for photos wearing a $60,000 gold Rolex in front of rows of imprisoned men.
Joe Rogan on Trump’s immigration policies: “The way it looks is just horrific. When you’re just arresting people in front of their kids—normal, regular people that have been here for 20 years—everybody who has a heart can’t get along with that…That’s crazy.” pic.twitter.com/csnTAN87JQ
— Home of the Brave (@OfTheBraveUSA) October 9, 2025
During this week’s podcast, Rogan sketched out what he viewed as a more humane immigration strategy. “Borders are closed, and we’re going to find out who out of the people that are illegal that have committed felonies,” he said. “If you’ve committed X amount of felonies, you have to leave the country.”
But for those who have lived in the U.S. for decades, he argued, there should be compassion. “If you’ve been here for 25 years, you have a family, your kids go to school here, you speak the language, you’re just illegal, but you’re a contributing member to the community… [it’s] crazy to ask lower income and middle income people who are getting by, and then all of a sudden you’re about to ship them to a country where they’ve never been,” Rogan said.
“You’re going to pull up their family and they’ve been in the community,” he continued. “That shows no heart, and that’s the problem. You’re not going to get any reasonable people to want to go along with that. Any kind person would look at that and go, ‘this can’t be the only way to do this.’”
Noem’s tough approach recently extended to Portland, Oregon, a city that Trump has labeled “war-ravaged.” She reportedly threatened to quadruple the number of federal officers stationed there unless Mayor Keith Wilson agreed to her demands for expanded ICE security.
While Trump’s supporters continue to defend the expanded deportations, mainstream opinion appears more divided. A New York Times/Siena University survey found that 54 percent of registered voters support deporting undocumented immigrants, but 51 percent believe the administration has gone too far. Rogan’s comments align with that conflicted majority.
It should be noted here that Rogan’s break with Trump is not new. Over the past few years, he has repeatedly distanced himself from the President on certain issues. He previously blasted Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and criticized efforts to cancel Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.
Back in April, Rogan also questioned Trump’s mass deportation strategy, warning that “innocent gay hairdressers” could get “lumped up with the gangs.”
Despite his general Republican leanings, Rogan made it clear that humanitarian values come first. While immigration is indeed an important issue in the US, Rogan rightly highlighted the fact that it can be done in a less brutal and more compassionate way that would both help the country and its citizens.
