Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration recently announced that Operation Rotten Apple – an immigration sweep in New York state – resulted in a record high number of arrests.

In an X post shared on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced that between July 27 and August 29, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 2,100 "murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and violent assailants."

"We removed these public safety threats with ZERO help from Socialist Mayor [Zohran] Mamdani and Governor [Kathy] Hochul," Mullin wrote.

"The brave men and women of ICE made New York safer – doing what sanctuary politicians refuse to do," he added.

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"If you are here illegally, we will hunt you down, and you will be deported."

According to The New York Times, the high number marks a notable jump from a dip in arrests in the state since April.

During a press conference that same day, Mullin spoke from a stage with two large images of arrested individuals, along with the words "rape" and "kidnapping, murder." The secretary insisted the operation aimed to take out "the worst of the worst."

When pressed about whether all of those arrested had criminal records, Mullin dismissed the idea, arguing they were all lawbreakers anyway.

"Regardless if you're a criminal or not, if you entered this country and you cheated, you didn't come in the legal way, because there are people entering this country every single day legally," he said.