Joe Rogan is worried that legal migrants could be wrapped up in the Trump administration’s deportation spree.
On a March 29 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the host praised President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration but expressed horror at the news that the administration had deported a gay Venezuelan asylum-seeker along with suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
“You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons,” Rogan said.
“It’s horrific,” he added. “It’s horrific.”
Andry—a 31-year-old gay, Venezuelan make-up artist—sought asylum in the United States but was instead deported to El Salvador without due process.
According to Andry’s attorney and founder of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Lindsay Toczylowski, the make-up artist had no criminal history and was wrongfully deported this month on the belief that he was part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Immigration officials reportedly thought that the tattoos Andry had were a sign of gang affiliation, though Toczylowski denied this and told MSNBC last week that they are “normal tattoos that you would see on anybody at a coffee shop anywhere.” Toczylowski further noted that her client was sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which is notorious for its harsh living conditions.
“This is the thing, you know, measure twice, cut once,” Rogan said. “This is kind of crazy.”
“That’s bad for the cause,” Rogan added. “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?”
Another Venezuelan asylum-seeker, Franco José Caraballo, was a barber who was also reportedly deported to CECOT despite having no criminal record, according to CBS News.
“How long before that guy can get out? Can we figure out how to get them out? Is there any plan in place to alert the authorities that they’ve made a horrible mistake and correct it?” Rogan said, prompting his guest, political commentator Konstantin Kisin, to reply that the government isn’t likely to admit that it may have made a mistake.
“That’s the thing about politics, right? Never admit your fault. Never admit you’re wrong,” Kisin said.
“It’s so dumb,” Rogan said. “And this is the thing we’re seeing with the Signal thing, and this is the thing we’re seeing with this. It’s like, I don’t know if it’s been brought to their attention.
“I mean, I would assume someone’s alerted them to the fact that they might have rounded up this just random hairdresser and accused him of being a gang member,” he continued.