Fox Anchor Asks Trump DHS Spox to Respond to Joe Rogan Warning ICE is Becoming the ‘Gestapo’

Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s primary spokesperson, joined Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Wednesday and was asked to react to popular podcaster Joe Rogan’s latest criticism of ICE.

Anchor Dana Perino introduced the topic, “Joe Rogan—he’s got questions about what’s happening, and it’s probably echoing what many people are thinking. So let’s listen to him and get your reaction.” Perino then played a clip from Rogan’s show from earlier in the week:

I see the perspective of the people that say, “Hey, there was an illegal program moving people in here to get votes, moving people in here to get congressional seats, and we’ve got to change that.” I can also see the point of view of the people that say, “Yeah, but you don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching people up, many of which turn out to actually be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them. Are we really going to be the Gestapo? Where’s your papers? Is that what we’ve come to?”

“So I know you and I talk a lot about communications and PR, and how would the department respond to that concern that he raised?” Perino asked.

“Well, this answer is very straightforward. If Tim Walz or Mayor Frey would let us in their jails, we wouldn’t have to be there at all. Currently, there are 680 criminal illegal aliens, Dana. That includes murderers, that includes rapists, child pedophiles—people who, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you would never want these people on your streets or as your neighbors,” answered McLaughlin, pivoting to attack Democrats. She continued:

That’s the people who we are targeting, and we are trying to get out of Minneapolis. Because we don’t have state and local law enforcement’s cooperation, we do have to have a physical presence on the ground there. And I know in the interview as well—and what Joe Rogan just mentioned—is the rampant crime.

We found more than nine billion dollars, and we believe that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If the state and local government would help there, if they would coordinate with the FBI, if they would coordinate with Homeland Security investigations, we would, on an expedited basis, be finding that fraud, and I think that all Americans would be better off for it. We want to give accountability; we want to give answers.

Anchor Bill Hemmer then moved on to discuss President Donald Trump’s vow to cut funding from so-called sanctuary cities.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.