Rotten Apple Raids: ICE Nabs Murderers, Child Predators in Epic New York Sweep

Now, this right here is what you call winning. On Tuesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin gave a statement on the successes of what he calls Operation Rotten Apple, where, against the wishes of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City's "sanctuary city" policies, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has rounded up over 2,000 illegal aliens with criminal records. 

Some of these are really bad people. A New York Post exclusive has some details.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) snared nearly 2,200 illegal migrants — including convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers — in a monthlong sweep across New York state, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Tuesday.

Agents nabbed 2,197 people between July 27 and Aug. 29 as part of “Operation Rotten Apple” — which Mullin noted was conducted “with no help” from either Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“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,” Mullin said in a statement.

Of course, ICE received no help from Mayor Mamdani or Governor Hochul. Both of them would prefer these 2,200 illegal aliens to remain where they are, in the United States, in New York City, moving freely about the streets and preying on American citizens. 

Here's a sampling of the kinds of people that the mayor and the governor wish to protect:

Those arrested include Bogdan Detrovich Gren, a Ukrainian national in the US illegally with criminal convictions for kidnapping, abduction resulting in death, criminal possession of a weapon, and murder, according to DHS.

Andreas Bernal Chiquito, an illegal migrant  from Colombia, has past arrests for sexual conduct against a child and injuring a child less than 17.

Also taken into custody was Palvinder Singh, an illegal migrant from India who was convicted of rape in Germany; and Carlos Mendez-Acosta, a Venezuelan migrant convicted of rape, according to the feds.

Remember, Mayor Mamdani signed an order shortly after taking office reinforcing New York's "sanctuary" policies. He has championed and signed city legislation making it difficult for city law enforcement to work with federal authorities on immigration issues, including illegal aliens charged with and convicted of serious crimes. And Governor Hochul, who may not be the worst governor in the United States only because of the presence of Governor Tim Walz in Minnesota and Governor Gavin Newsom in California, has also pushed for and signed in state-level legislation barring New York law enforcement from dealing with federal immigration authorities.

The kind of people listed above are the kind of people that Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani want to protect, to keep in the United States.

In Operation Rotten Apple, an appropriate appellation if ever there was one, DHS and ICE have taken serial predators off the streets, and those people will presumably be repatriated. That's as it should be; let their own countries deal with them. The United States should not be a playground for criminals who are here illegally; we have enough home-grown goblins to deal with already. But Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani, along with almost every elected Democrat and every Democrat candidate, want to keep them here, make them a danger to American citizens and a burden on American law enforcement. That is well past insane.

You can watch Secretary Mullin's remarks here.

And, again, these are the kinds of people that Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani want to protect, to keep in the United States. You just can't make this stuff up.

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/09/01/rotten-apple-raids-ice-nails-murderers-child-predators-in-epic-new-york-sweep-n2206353

United States Resumes Strikes Against Iran

The United States has resumed strikes on the Islamic Republic of Iran Tuesday afternoon, according to U.S. Central Command.

“Today at 12 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran,” CENTCOM posted to X on Tuesday.

“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the post added.

The two countries exchanged strikes over the weekend as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly attempted to place mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios. After the American strikes, the Iranians then tried to hit American military bases in Jordan.

“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a recent statement that strikes by U.S. forces to prevent the IRGC from placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz were an ‘act of aggression,” CENTCOM posted on Sunday night. 

“This claim is absolutely FALSE,” CENTCOM added.

https://townhall.com/news/cameron-arcand/2026/09/01/united-states-resumes-strikes-against-iran-n2682280

EXCLUSIVE: Honduran Criminal Alien with Decades of History Arrested in Sanctuary New York

U.S. Border Patrol agents performing duties near Niagara Falls, New York, encountered 48-year-old Pablo Ordonez-Melendez, a Honduran criminal alien. The Buffalo Sector agents investigated Ordonez-Melendez’s immigration and criminal history and discovered the Honduran national was no stranger to the U.S. criminal justice system.

The early investigation into Ordonez-Melendez’ prior immigration and criminal history revealed he was unlawfully present in the United States and had an extensive criminal history dating back nearly 25 years. According to the Border Patrol, Ordonez-Melendez’s criminal history included multiple arrests for sexual assault against minors, grand larceny, assaults with intent to cause injury, endangerment, bail jumping, possession of stolen property, and numerous traffic offenses.

Despite his status as an illegal alien in the United States, Ordonez-Melendez is currently on probation in sanctuary New York state and is considered a probation violator. Buffalo Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent James D’Amato praised his agents for their tenacity in performing their patrol duties, saying, “This arrest is a clear example of our agents’ commitment to public safety. Those who violate our immigration laws and have serious criminal histories will be identified, arrested, and removed from the United States.

Ordonez-Melendez was processed at the Niagara Falls Border Patrol station and was subsequently turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) as he awaits deportation proceedings.

The Buffalo Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol is responsible for securing the border between ports of entry in New York and Pennsylvania, an area encompassing 490 linear miles of maritime border. Since October, agents assigned to the sector have arrested 1,741 illegal aliens through July.

“We will continue to protect our border and keep dangerous individuals out of our communities,” Chief D’Amato added.

Illegal aliens are struggling to elude detection and arrest as strict immigration enforcement policies were enacted after the inauguration of President Trump in 2025. Those attempting to move near the immediate border now face a Border Patrol that is staffed at a higher level than at any time in the agency’s history.

As reported by Breitbart Texas, in late June, CBP announced that the United States Border Patrol had reached the historic milestone of 21,271 agents serving on the front lines of the nation’s borders.

The increase in staffing has enabled the agency to increase routine patrols between ports of entry in border regions, making it harder to illegally enter the United States, work, or travel without a higher likelihood of detection and arrest.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2026/09/01/exclusive-honduran-criminal-alien-with-decades-of-history-arrested-in-sanctuary-new-york/

Mistress of Imprisoned Ex-FBI Special Agent Tried to Report His Crimes with China and the Bidens – Now She’s Dead

 

Mistress of Imprisoned Ex-FBI Special Agent Tried to Report His Crimes with China and the Bidens – Now She’s Dead

(Much of this was reported one year ago at JoeHoft.com on September 17, 2025, after Ms. Guerriero contacted us.)

Allison Guerriero, FBI Agent Charles McGonigal’s ex-mistress turned whistleblower, wrote the following on her Substack about the OIG politely declining to investigate her claims that former top Biden FBI Executive, Charles McGonigal was involved in fraudulent activities with China as well as with Europeans. (emphasis added)

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) officially declined to open a case into the FBI’s handling of matters involving Charles McGonigal — and instead punted the whole thing back to, wait for it… the FBI.

Hmmm so the FBI is involved in some alleged crimes and corruption? What better agency to investigate this than the FBI!

The jokes just write themselves…

Yes, really.

It is my belief that I witnessed deeply troubling conduct by former senior FBI official Charles McGonigal. I reported that conduct through the appropriate channels, at great personal risk. It is also my belief that this conduct involved potential espionage, uncharged sanctions violations, and serious financial irregularities.

So naturally, the agency I believe helped cover it up is now being asked to investigate… itself.

This is like reporting your house was robbed, and the police say:

“Don’t worry, the suspect you named is a retired cop — he’ll drop by later and see if you’re missing anything.”

Honestly, I expected the OIG to decline and I was looking forward to posting it solely for the jokes. Every whistleblower I’ve ever spoken to receives some version of the same polite form letter. It’s like a “thank you for your bravery” Hallmark card, sealed with a bureaucratic shrug.

To be clear: it is my belief that this isn’t about one bad actor. I believe this is systemic. The same system that failed to act on credible information is now in charge of reviewing itself — and we’re all supposed to pretend that’s accountability.

It’s not.

But I’m still here. I’m still speaking out. And I’m still fighting — despite the retaliation, the legal bills, and the silence from the very institutions that were supposed to protect whistleblowers like me.

If you’d like to help me stay in this fight, please consider supporting my legal defense and basic expenses here:

www.GiveSendGo.com/AllisonGuerriero

And you can follow me on X (formerly Twitter), where I post updates, public filings, and the kind of truths that make federal agencies squirm:

https://x.com/allisonguerrier

Thanks for reading. More to come.

— Allison Guerriero

(See the letter from the OIG at Ms. Guerriero’s Substack) 

Ms. Guerriero was correct.  It turns out FBI’s finest – Charles McGonigal – was providing secret information to China related to Hunter Biden’s business in China and was never convicted under the Biden Administration.  This is reported from the same entity that recently turned down a review of Ms. Guerriero’s complaint into the same matter.

This revelation from the new Inspector General report on corrupt FBI agent Charles McGonigal is staggering, and yet you won’t hear a word about it from legacy media.

McGonigal giving secret information about an ongoing investigation to the very targets of that probe is bad enough. It gets worse when you learn this investigation was into Hunter Biden’s Chinese firm and his business partners. But by far the worst part is that Joe Biden’s DOJ declined to prosecute McGonigal for it.

If there was ever a case for recusal, this was it. There needs to be a full and thorough fresh investigation into everything involving McGonigal, including his communications, activities, associates, financial dealings, use of FBI resources, handling of classified information, attempts to influence or obstruct investigations, and the decision not to charge him for aiding Hunter Biden’s firm.

Here’s more:

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And more:

Roger Stone shared this last year.

The scandal of Charles McGonigal is no mere footnote in history – it is a festering, malignant sore on the face of American justice. It is the most brazen example of the FBI’s arrogance, corruption, and perfidy against the American people. McGonigal, a high-level FBI official, was charged with accepting bribes when he should have been charged with espionage. And make no mistake: this sordid tale of betrayal and deception is far from over.

McGonigal, once the exalted head (or “crowned head”) of the counterintelligence kingdom at the FBI’s all-powerful New York Field Office, was not simply dabbling with Russia and Albania. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has now confirmed what many of us long suspected: his tentacles extended into China as well with none other than a not-so-casual association with the Biden Crime Family.

China – the very adversary waging an unrelenting war on America’s economy, our health, our sovereignty, and our future. Where else did McGonigal’s treachery reach? Who else within the upper echelons of American law enforcement and intelligence services was in league with him, profiteering on America’s vulnerabilities, feeding at the trough of betrayal like barnyard pigs?

And yet, what punishment did this so-called rogue operator receive for his colossal catalog of sins? A laughable 78 months in federal prison. Seventy-eight months! For a man who consorted with foreign agents, betrayed this nation, compromised national security, and spat in the face of the very sacred Oath he swore to uphold. In fact, McGonigal’s sentence has been officially shortened twice.

No espionage charges. No treason charges. No asset forfeiture. No tax fraud charges. No further investigative work to uncover McGonigal’s involvement in any other illicit financial activities. NONE. That alone is extraordinary. In virtually every corruption and foreign-agent case, the government seizes ill-gotten gains. But here, McGonigal’s prosecution was tidied up with the help of the Biden Justice department and swept away with surgical neatness as though to erase the evidence trail.

On Thursday, after years of trying to get out the whole truth about Charles McGonigal and his activities with the Biden gang, Ms. Guerriero was found dead.

God bless Ms. Guerriero.

https://joehoft.com/exclusive-mistress-imprisoned-ex-fbi-special-agent-tried/

Gary, Indiana, can’t blame racism for every failure exposed by its catastrophic blackout

Rooftop Revelations: Gary is one of those places where the streak of bad luck never seems to run out

Gary, Indiana, sits on the southern shore of Lake Michigan not too far from where I am on the South Side of Chicago. I know that city well and my Project H.O.O.D. has done many events and good works there.

The one thing everybody knows about Gary is that it is the birthplace of Michael Jackson, a place where one of the biggest stars the world has ever known was forged. In the years before Jackson was born, Blacks moved to Gary from the South to work in the steel mills and many made good livings. But today, Gary sits in the middle of the Rust Belt, and it faces high poverty, widespread vacancy and a long population decline. Its population fell from more than 80,000 in 2010 to an estimated 67,289 in 2025.

Gary is one of those places where the streak of bad luck never seems to run out. I say this with a heavy heart because I know that many people there are good people and they’re trying their best to make some kind of fortune out of their city’s misfortunes. What no one could have predicted is what hit them next — literally.

The weather people on TV call it a derecho. Unlike a tornado that spins in a circle, a derecho consists of winds running straight through with great force. On Aug. 11, a derecho swept through Northwest Indiana, bringing widespread straight-line winds of 70 to more than 100 mph. A 99 mph wind gust was recorded at Gary/Chicago International Airport. Those gusts were comparable to the winds associated with a Category 2 hurricane.

For nearly two weeks, thousands of Gary residents remained without power. The suffering on the ground was terrible.

While many of the nearby towns and suburbs felt the derecho, Gary was among the communities hardest hit. I heard from my contacts there that trees that stood for generations had been uprooted and fallen into power lines. The poles holding these lines snapped. The storm brought down trees and power lines across Gary, causing widespread outages. More than 20,000 Gary customers were affected at one point. Within a few hours, it appeared as if nearly everybody in Gary lost power. The city that once powered America’s steel industry was now sitting in darkness.

HURRICANE KATRINA TAUGHT ME HOW TO PREPARE FOR ANY STORM

For nearly two weeks, thousands of Gary residents remained without power. The suffering on the ground was terrible. There was no air conditioning to combat the sweltering heat. Senior citizens who needed breathing machines had to do without. Parents had to take what food they had in their warm fridges and save what they could by cooking the meats at the nearby parks. Some families who were fortunate enough to have generators were soon reporting them stolen. People couldn’t charge their phones and businesses couldn’t stay open. Life in Gary came to a literal standstill.

A toppled tree rests in front of a home on Aug. 20, 2026, in Gary, Indiana. Many residents of the city endured being without power for more than nine days after a powerful derecho storm downed trees and power lines.

NIPSCO now says it has restored power to 99% of affected customers, though some residents still need repairs to privately owned equipment before they can safely reconnect.

In the nearby towns, the lights began to flicker back on and the people in Gary thought they would soon be next. But the days went by and there was still no power.

My Project H.O.O.D. team drove into Gary along with many other nonprofits and churches, and we lent a helping hand wherever needed. After the derecho hit, we got calls and texts from our friends in Gary and we knew we had to help in any way possible.

We brought people produce, hot meals and the basic necessities such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste and the like. Just because the infrastructure failed the people of Gary, it doesn’t mean that we humans can’t come together and help one another.

DIVINE PURPOSE HELPED BRING CHICAGO’S MOST-DANGEROUS BLOCK BACK TO LIFE

While in the streets, I started to hear the word that the reason for the lack of power was racism. Gary is a Black city and some folks there felt they were deliberately being left behind. People said, "Why isn’t our power on? Why do all the White folks have their power and we don’t?" As time passed, these mutterings grew angrier and expletive-laden. I understand their frustrations and I understand the human need to reach for explanations, but feelings are not facts.

When a derecho exposes failures on a catastrophic level, the temptation is to shout ‘systemic racism’ and wait for someone else to fix it. This mindset has kept too many of our communities in the dark long before any derecho arrived.

Gary was in the direct line of fire and the utility company’s damage assessments show that the city suffered an unbelievable amount of damage. The utility said the derecho caused historic damage across Northwest Indiana, including roughly 300 damaged distribution poles and 44 damaged transmission poles. The scale of that damage complicated restoration in Gary and other hard-hit communities.

What I have read shows that the process to restore power must follow a standard order: major lines are targeted first so the greatest number of customers can be restored safely and efficiently. This is not bigotry. This is engineering. Blaming race here does not turn the lights back on. It only gives everyone an easy excuse to avoid the harder work.

And the harder work has been avoided for too long. The outage has prompted serious questions about whether tree-trimming and grid preparedness were adequate. A proposed lawsuit makes those allegations, while NIPSCO disputes them and says it has increased vegetation-management spending.

A makeshift road block prevents drivers from driving through downed utility lines stretching across a street on Aug. 20, 2026, in Gary, Indiana. The lines were brought down during a powerful derecho storm that left many residents of Gary without power for more than nine days. 

All around, the infrastructure weakens with every passing year and no one wants to invest. The leaders seem to be in the mode of managing decline instead of demanding excellence. And so, when the derecho exposes these failures on a catastrophic level, the temptation is to shout "systemic racism" and wait for someone else to fix it. This mindset has kept too many of our communities in the dark long before any derecho arrived.

What the aftermath of the derecho revealed was a resilient, compassionate and strong community. Residents have been caring for their neighbors and sharing what little they have. The churches and volunteers came together to hand out meals. Outsiders drove into Gary in trucks and even semitrucks full of food.

My team will be back, and we plan to open our second Project H.O.O.D. location in Gary. We will provide workforce development programs, mentorship for the youth, violence prevention, reentry rehabilitation for the formerly incarcerated and more.

Why all this energy now? There wasn’t much of this energy before the derecho hit, and that is why we have to ask, "Why now? Are we going to let this energy go to waste?"

I hope not because this is the kind of energy that builds cities. That builds neighborhoods.

What the derecho revealed is that we have the strength, manpower and will to make our lives better.

All this talk about systemic racism will only keep us down. Perhaps that is the lesson here and the one that the people of Gary need to hold onto if they want to climb out of this hole.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gary-indiana-cant-blame-racism-every-failure-exposed-catastrophic-blackout