Podcaster Joe Rogan has publicly diverged from President Donald Trump on the issue of mass deportations during a weekend episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
The split centers on the Trump administration’s policy of deporting suspected gang members to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), often dubbed a "Hell on Earth" prison due to its harsh conditions. Rogan’s criticism emerged after reports surfaced that innocent individuals, including legal immigrants and asylum-seekers, were mistakenly swept up in these deportations, a discovery he called "horrific."
The controversy stems from Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime measure granting the president broad authority to detain and deport non-citizens deemed threats to national security. In mid-March 2025, the administration executed mass raids, deporting 261 individuals—mostly Venezuelans suspected of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang—to CECOT. This mega-prison, built under El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, is known for its extreme overcrowding, lack of due process, and brutal treatment of inmates, housing over 12,000 prisoners in conditions widely criticized by human rights groups.
Rogan, who had endorsed Trump before the 2024 election and generally supported his immigration crackdowns, expressed alarm during a conversation with guest Konstantin Kisin.
WATCH: “It’s horrific.”
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 31, 2025
Joe Rogan reacts to the story of Trump’s ICE grabbing innocent people with no criminal record like a gay makeup artist (Andrys) and sending him to a hard labor prison in El Salvador. pic.twitter.com/LrS42EC5Wu
He highlighted cases like Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a 31-year-old gay Venezuelan makeup artist, and Franco José Caraballo, a barber, both of whom sought asylum in the U.S. and had no criminal records. Hernandez, for instance, was deported despite pending court proceedings, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly misidentifying his tattoos as gang symbols. Rogan remarked, “You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons. This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That’s horrific.”
He emphasized that such errors undermine the policy’s stated goal—removing dangerous gang members—saying, “The cause is: Let’s get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But let’s not get innocent gay hairdressers lumped up with the gangs.” Rogan questioned the lack of mechanisms to correct these mistakes, asking, “How long before that guy can get out? Is there any plan in place to alert the authorities that they’ve made a horrible mistake?” Kisin responded that political incentives often discourage governments from admitting fault, a point Rogan called “so dumb.”
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