Joe Rogan pushed Donald Trump to back off deporting migrant workers with no criminal records at a private dinner, just days before slamming the president over the “insane” raids by ICE agents.
The podcast host, whose endorsement is credited with helping Trump secure the presidency, dined with him and UFC boss Dana White on June 30, according to sources cited byThe Washington Post.
The trio discussed the policies and actions taken by the administration with regard to migrant workers, the outlet reported.
The Independent has contacted the White House and Rogan for comment.
Days later, in an episode of his show which aired on July 3, Rogan agreed with a guest that such policies were “disappointing.”
“There’s two things that are insane,” he said on The Joe Rogan Experience. “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?”
Along with other so-called “manosphere” influencers, including Adin Ross and Theo Von, Rogan endorsed Trump during the 2024 presidential election – earning him the substantial backing of the young, male demographic.
This included a three-hour sit-down interview with Trump on the podcast, in which Rogan chuckled as the president reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
Rogan, 57, has previously denied that he is a Republican, or that he has any particular political affiliation, saying on air back in January, days after Trump’s victory, that he considers himself “an American.”
Prior to the private dinner with Trump, Rogan had stated that the aggressive push for deportations of migrants was not what voters had “signed up for.”
“The Trump administration, if they’re running and they say, we’re going to go to Home Depot and we’re going to arrest all of the people at Home Depot, we’re going to construction sites and we’re just going to, like, tackle people at construction sites, I don’t think anybody would have signed up for that,” Rogan said, on June 18.
Rogan’s remarks referred to actions taken by ICE agents in Los Angeles earlier that month, which sparked protests, riots and violent clashes with law enforcement, and resulted in the deployment of the California national guard by the federal government.
Trump has previously appeared to acknowledge that mass deportations have been harmful.
“I got myself into a little trouble because I said I don’t want to take people away from the farmers,” the president said at a rally in Iowa last week, before adding that he was working on legislation that would allow undocumented workers in the farm and hospitality industries to remain in the U.S.
After admitting that some long-time workers had been “thrown out, pretty viciously,” the president added: "We can't do it. We've got to work with the farmers and people that have hotels and leisure properties."
However on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there would be “no amnesty” for migrant farm workers.
“The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation,” she said.
Rollins suggested that able-bodied U.S. citizens, who are the recipients of Medicaid benefits, could serve as an alternative to migrant labor.
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