Letter to the editor: Joe Rogan slams ICE actions, agents

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 01.22.26

Podcaster Joe Rogan’s endorsement helped Trump win in 2024. Now, Rogan is criticizing Trump’s armed, masked ICE agents who have arrested and killed American citizens and violated their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

On June 18, 2025, Rogan said voters supported Trump because “they said, ‘we’re gonna get rid of criminals and gang members,’ right? Now we’re seeing Home Depot stores raided. I don’t think anybody would have signed up for that.” He called targeting migrant workers “insane.”

On August 13, 2025, Rogan ripped ICE for “pulling people out of schools and Home Depot. What freaks people out is that voters thought ‘great, we’re going to get rid of gang members.’ They didn’t think, ‘great, you’re gonna get rid of landscapers.’”

After an ICE agent shot and killed Rachel Good, a Minnesota mother of three, Rogan said, “now ICE are villains, and people are looking at them like murderers, military people that are on the streets of our city, masked up, which is also a problem.”

He added that it was “very ugly to watch someone shoot a U.S. citizen, especially a woman, in the face. It just looked horrific. When people say it’s justifiable because the car hit him, it seemed like she was turning the car away.” A New York Times video analysis confirms Rogan’s conclusion.

Americans share Rogan’s horror. CNN’s latest poll reports that a 51%-31% majority think ICE is making Americans less safe. YouGov’s latest poll found just 28% think Good’s killing was justified — 60% say ICE uses unnecessary force and a plurality (46%-43%) want ICE abolished.

On Jan. 13, 2026, Rogan gave voice to Americans’ fear: “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around snatching people up. Many are actually U.S. citizens who just don’t have their papers on them. Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”

Vince Amoroso

Sunset Beach