Joe Rogan on Tuesday went after the Trump administration over its crackdown on foreign-born students, calling the maneuver “f***ing crazy” on his popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience while speaking with comedian Mike Vecchione.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has utilized a multipronged strategy for immigration control, including significant targeting of international students over their criticism of the Israeli government’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Rogan has sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s administration over its immigration tactics in recent weeks, describing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “insane.”
The podcaster also pushed Trump to back off from deporting migrants with no criminal records during a dinner with the president and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) head Dana White last month, The Washington Post reported.
Gregory Payan/AP
What To Know
“They’re kicking students out that are, like, writing articles they don’t like,” Rogan told Vecchione on Tuesday.
“Yeah, that’s nuts,” Vecchione replied.
“F***ing crazy,” Rogan said.
The podcaster was likely referring to Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University who was detained in March after writing an opinion piece criticizing Israel’s actions in the war. Ozturk was released from ICE custody in May after a federal judge said the government had provided “no evidence” to justify her detention.
Ozturk was among several international students who made headlines after being detained. Others include Columbia University students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi as well as Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, all of whom have since been released from ICE custody.
“Isn’t a university supposed to be a place where someone’s allowed to express themselves and have opinions?” Rogan asked Vecchione on Tuesday.
“Nonviolently,” Vecchione said, to which Rogan replied: “Yeah. They’re writing something down and they’re not calling for violence either; and they’re getting challenged. That’s supposed to be how it happens. You get challenged. Smarter people have better arguments or your argument stands.”
“Deporting people because you don’t like who they’re criticizing, like, that gets kind of shifty,” Rogan added.
Earlier in Tuesday’s show, Rogan criticized the administration’s actions on immigration as an “overcorrection,” saying, “You know, you’ve got a bunch of people that are totally innocent that are going to get caught up in that and have been.”
“They have been,” Rogan said while Vecchione nodded in agreement. “A lot of people that have green cards. A lot of people that are supposed to be over here.”
What People Are Saying
In response to Rogan’s comments, a White House spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: “President Trump will always put the safety of Americans first, and it is a privilege, not a right, to study in the United States. The administration is ensuring that guests in our country are not acting counter to American foreign policy interests.”
Rogan said on a July 3 episode of his eponymous show: “There’s two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers. Just construction workers. Showing up [at] construction sites, raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration has pledged to continue deporting migrants as part of its aggressive push to deliver on the president’s promise to tighten border security and root out violent criminals and those accused of gang activity. But the administration has drawn sharp blowback after it surfaced that many of those who were swept up in ICE raids and deported were in the U.S. legally or had pending asylum cases before immigration courts.
