In August 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 2,197 illegal migrants in New York during Operation Rotten Apple. The operation focused on individuals with serious criminal backgrounds, including drug traffickers and rapists. Tensions arose as local laws limiting cooperation with ICE were enacted, leading to criticism from federal officials.
We’ll perform a deep-dive analysis of all sources and publicly available external materials, then prepare a structured timeline of events, an in-depth report explaining the background and context, and multiple perspectives.