“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,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
Page A5From§Eachthe noon edition — 1 September 2026
ICE nabs 2,000 migrants in 'Operation Rotten Apple' as agency waits outside Virginia jail
ICE reports nabbing over 2,000 migrants in 'Operation Rotten Apple,' including waiting outside a Virginia jail for releases. The operation is the receipt; the method is the wait. The names are not the story—it's the institution and the act. The sweep is for the numbers, the headline is the operation, and the outcome is the migrant. The real power sits in the agency, the real stakes are in the people caught up. The con is the operation name; the mechanism is the waiting game, the sweep for the next big number. The fold lands on the people who are walked out the back door, not on the agency’s press release. The stakes are counted in bodies and in headlines. The receipts keep coming, and the next sweep is always bigger than the last. The power is the badge; the consequence is who gets left behind. The numbers are the story, and the sweep is the punchline.
“ICE runs up the numbers, waiting outside the jail to pick up migrants, calling it 'Operation Rotten Apple.' They call it security, but it's just a sweep for headlines. The real story is who gets left behind and who gets walked out the back door.”
“ICE is simply enforcing the law, targeting dangerous individuals. Operation Rotten Apple is a necessary action for public safety. Waiting outside the jail? That's just efficiency. Did I say 'just efficiency'? Maybe it's more about optics than outcomes. But the law is the law, and the numbers speak for themselves.”
The receipts
Cleaning up their mess
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.