The White House has fulfilled its promise to surge U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into the sanctuary state of New York and go after illegal immigrants who were released from jail and prison.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday announced that federal immigration authorities had taken 2,197 illegal immigrants off the street over a 33-day period that ran from July 27 through Aug. 29.
“Over the last 30 days, Operation Rotten Apple has taken OVER 2,100 criminals OFF our streets,” Mullin told reporters during a press conference in New York City.
White House border czar Tom Homan promised in May to send ICE into the sanctuary state because local and state law enforcement refused to turn over more than 13,000 illegal immigrants in jail to federal authorities for deportation, instead releasing them onto the street.
“Operation Rotten Apple got some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens including murderers, kidnappers, and rapists off New York streets,” Homan said in a statement Tuesday, adding that ICE’s efforts to arrest public safety threats had contributed to the “largest decrease in violent crime in American history.”
“Democratic politicians in New York and elsewhere say that they care about public safety, but won’t let immigration law enforcement officers into their jails to take criminals into custody; instead they release them to their streets. It makes no sense,” Homan said. “President Trump is a law and order president who delivers on his promises, so if state and local officials will not safeguard their communities against lawbreakers and threats, then we will.”
Arrests by ICE nationwide have surged this summer to the highest levels seen in the Trump administration.
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In the first 11 days of July, ICE averaged 1,593 arrests of suspected illegal immigrants daily, up from the previous record of just over 1,300 arrests per day in June. The data include arrests by another federal immigration agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Newly released data compiled by the Deportation Data Project revealed that ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide in July, the highest rate ever seen.