White House responds to Joe Rogan’s warning that ICE behavior in Minneapolis resembles Hitler’s Gestapo

The White House fired back at Joe Rogan after the podcaster said he understood why protesters compared the behavior of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis to Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo.

Rogan was discussing the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent when he said he understood the anti-ICE protesters’ “point of view.”

“You don’t want militarized people wandering the streets and grabbing people,” Rogan said. ‘It turned out that most of them were US citizens without documents.

He added rhetorically: ‘Are we really going to be the Gestapo? “Where are your papers?” Is this where we are?’

The Gestapo was the secret police arm of the Nazi party responsible for suppressing dissent.

On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deputy secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to Rogan’s controversial remarks.

‘If Tim Walz and the Mayor [Jacob] “Frey would take us into his prisons, we wouldn’t even have to be there,” he told Fox News.

McLaughlin added that the Trump administration has targeted ‘680 criminal illegal aliens’, including murderers, rapists and child pedophiles.

Department of Homeland Security deputy secretary Tricia McLaughlin says the Trump administration is targeting murderers, rapists and child pedophiles

‘Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, these are people you never want on your streets or in your neighbors,’ he said.

While McLaughin did not appear to directly address the UFC commentator’s comments comparing ICE to Hitler’s Gestapo, he did call his response to Rogan “very clear.”

He claimed that immigration officers “need to have a physical presence on the ground” in Minneapolis because “we do not have the assistance of state and local law enforcement.”

Rogan said on his podcast that recent ICE raids make officers look bad to many American citizens.

‘People look at them like murderous soldiers on the streets of our city,’ he said.

The podcaster also claimed that the ‘masking’ of agents is also ‘an issue’.

“Because if you are arrested by a police officer, you are allowed to ask the officer your name and badge number,” Rogan said. ‘And you can film that cop. You have no such right if you are arrested by an ICE agent. They are wearing masks. ‘They don’t need to tell you any nonsense.’

McLaughin said that when he listened to some of Rogan’s comments, he talked about “the widespread crime that we’re finding.”

He claimed that more than $9 billion in counterfeit money was found.

His comments appeared to reference former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who said the money defrauded from Minnesota’s 14 Medicaid programs could exceed that amount.

McLaughin said the Trump administration believes these plans are “just the tip of the iceberg.”

He added: ‘If the state and local government would get out there, if they coordinated with the FBI, if they coordinated with Homeland Security investigations, we would find this fraud quickly.

‘I think all Americans would be better off for it. We want to give responsibility. We want to provide answers.’

On Tuesday, Rogan discussed the perception of ICE nationwide with Republican Sen. Rand Paul while commenting on the shooting death of Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, 43.

He said Good’s death was a “terrible tragedy” that should not have happened.

‘I’m not that guy, I don’t know what you are [Ross] “This is another guy who almost got run over,” Rogan mused. ‘But this looked terrible to me.’

On Tuesday, Rogan said: ‘People are looking [ICE] like the murderous soldiers on the streets of our city’

The podcaster made the comments following the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on January 7.

The mother of three was shot after she ignored demands to get out of her car during a protest, reversed it and tried to drive away.

Ross was dragged in a car by a fleeing suspect six months before Good’s death, the Daily Mail previously said.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said Ross suffered internal bleeding in his torso after an encounter with the mother of three on Jan. 7.

Rogan also said he understands the conservative stance on recent ICE raids in Minneapolis.

He said, ‘Hey, there was an illegal program that brought people here to get votes, brought people here to get congressional seats, and we have to change that.’

The podcast added that American democracy is being damaged by mass immigration.

He added: ‘We have to take the people who are coming in and send them back to where they came from or do something, because if we don’t they will have to take some of the damage that has been done to a truly democratic system – because they will have sort of usurped it.’

Rogan called for ‘balancing’ but admitted he wasn’t sure how to get there.

‘This is more complicated than people want to admit,’ he said.

The 58-year-old actor, who hosts the world’s most listened to podcast, supported US President Donald Trump against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.