DHS: Operation Rotten Apple Nets 2,197 Illegal Aliens in New York

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday that ICE arrested 2,197 illegal aliens across New York from July 27 to Aug. 29 in an enforcement surge the department named Operation Rotten Apple. Mullin, speaking at a New York City press conference, said those taken into custody included murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and violent assailants, and that the operation was run “with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul.” “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE and our federal partners, Operation Rotten Apple did what sanctuary politicians in New York City and the state of New York refuse to do: made the Empire State safer,” he said. Border Czar Tom Homan said the sweep “got some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens including murderers, kidnappers, and rapists off New York streets.” Mullin said more agents can be sent if state and city officials continue not to cooperate.

DHS identified several of the arrests by name. Bogdan Detrovich Gren, an illegal alien from Ukraine, has convictions for kidnapping, abduction resulting in death, criminal possession of a weapon, and murder. Andreas Bernal Chiquito, from Colombia, has been charged with sexual conduct against a child and injuring a child under 17. Palvinder Singh, an Indian national, has a rape conviction in Germany and an INTERPOL red notice. Carlos Mendez-Acosta, from Venezuela, has a rape conviction. Mullin said the people highlighted in the operation had been on New York streets because of city and state sanctuary rules. DHS said those policies have put more than 13,000 criminal illegal aliens back on the street after they left local jails without being turned over to ICE. Homan had said earlier this year that he would surge officers into the state for that reason.

Mullin said the operation was launched because New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, “refused to cooperate with federal law enforcement” and because Gov. Kathy Hochul “refuses to work with us.” He cited Mamdani’s executive order reinforcing sanctuary limits on ICE, Hochul’s push to end 287(g) jail partnerships, and state legislation restricting cooperation at hospitals, parks, and other locations. Mamdani has said ICE raids are “cruel, inhumane and do nothing to protect public safety” and has called for the agency to be abolished. Hochul held a separate briefing the same day. She rejected the administration’s characterization of sanctuary releases as a lie and demanded the return of $87 million in counterterrorism funding she said the federal government has withheld from New York. Mullin said seven of the safest cities in the country participate in 287(g). The New York arrests were part of a national ICE increase that reached a monthly record of about 49,000 in July.