Joe Rogan Criticizes ICE Shooting in Minneapolis as ‘Horrific’

Joe Rogan is raising serious questions about the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after newly released footage showed a woman fatally shot in the face during an immigration raid in Minneapolis. The popular podcaster called the video “horrific” and expressed discomfort with what appeared to be a disproportionate and chaotic use of force.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan sat down with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to discuss immigration policy and the recent incident that left 32-year-old Renee Good dead. Good was allegedly attempting to drive her vehicle near ICE agents when an officer opened fire a shot that Rogan described as “very ugly” and possibly unjustified.

“It’s complicated, but it’s also very ugly to watch someone shoot a U.S. citizen, especially a woman, in the face,” Rogan said. “I’m not that guy. I don’t know what he thought… but it just looked horrific to me.”

Rogan acknowledged the ICE officer may have felt threatened but questioned whether the force used was necessary, especially considering video footage appeared to show Good turning her vehicle away from agents at the time of the shooting.

While conceding that Good appeared “out of her f------ mind,” Rogan maintained that mental instability and disruptive behavior don’t automatically justify a fatal response, especially from federal agents operating on American streets.

“Are we really going to be the Gestapo?” Rogan asked. “Where’s your papers? Is that what we’ve come to?”

The conversation touched on growing public unease over the militarization of immigration enforcement. Rogan emphasized that ICE, originally created to target violent criminals and human traffickers, is increasingly being viewed by ordinary Americans as a federal police force targeting landscapers and activists.

• According to DHS data, nearly 30% of ICE arrests in 2023 involved non-criminal immigration violations.

• Public trust in ICE enforcement fell by nearly 15 points between 2019 and 2025, according to Pew Research.

• Minneapolis has been a flashpoint in immigration debates, especially as sanctuary city policies clash with federal enforcement efforts.

Sen. Paul agreed that the situation is spiraling out of control. He suggested that local law enforcement not heavily armed federal agents should be handling immigration violations to avoid violent clashes and public confusion. However, sanctuary laws in many liberal-run cities prevent such coordination.

“That’s the problem with sanctuary cities,” Paul said. “They won’t let local police do the job, and then when ICE shows up, it creates a spectacle.”

Rogan, who has a wide and politically diverse listener base, warned that heavy-handed ICE tactics risk alienating average Americans who once supported the agency’s original mission.

“When people thought about ICE, they thought, ‘Great, we’re going to get rid of the gang members.’ They didn’t think, ‘Great, you’re going to get rid of the landscaper,’” Rogan said, echoing a concern that federal overreach is beginning to blur the line between national security and domestic oppression.

The Biden administration has mostly ignored these concerns, even as Trump continues to promise a “record-setting deportation operation” if elected in 2024 one that will prioritize criminals but also target visa overstays and sanctuary holdouts. Still, even within conservative circles, there’s growing consensus that enforcement must be tough, but also smart and constitutional.

Footage like the one from Minneapolis only makes that balance harder to strike and leaves millions of Americans wondering who ICE really works for.

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