Federal authorities arrested 2,197 people across New York last month during what they have derisively named “Operation Rotten Apple,” the highest monthly immigration arrest total since the Trump administration’s round-ups began in New York State.
The federal mobilization from July 27 to August 29 resulted in a more than 40% spike in arrests compared to June, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures gathered by the Deportation Data Project.
The enforcement surge heavily impacted low-population areas like Northern New York, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested dozens of workers.
The sweeps notably targeted local businesses in Lake Placid, leading to the detention of hotel and restaurant staff, roofers and other laborers during the busy tourist season.
In response, locals have hosted informational events for employers in the Inlet and Old Forge area to educate businesses on immigration compliance and worker rights.
ICE agents recently detained seven local restaurant workers traveling between Saranac Lake and Ray Brook. At least nine people were detained in Tupper Lake, Franklin County.
Construction and hospitality workers have also been arrested in areas across Northern New York form Queensbury, to Sackets Harbor, and Potsdam.
Lake Placid Mayor Art Devlin told North Country Public Radio (NCPR) that the heightened immigration police presence has exacerbated local labor shortages for Adirondack small business owners who depend on legal migrant labor.
“Obviously, it is a problem,” Devlin told NCPR. “We have had some of the motel owners that are concerned. There’s just not enough workforce here temporarily to cover everything.”
Devlin said that despite the end of the peak summer tourism season this weekend, local employers remain dependent on employees with the legal authorization to be here to sustain their operations year-round.
Upstate Round-Ups & Deportations
In Buffalo, where there have been 515 ICE arrests this year, there were another 200 in Erie County Jail and Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison nearby;
In Rochester, nearly 350 people have been rounded-up, many along the Route 104 corridor between Williamson to Rochester, which has been under heavy surveillance.
Wayne County has seen numerous arrests of workers commuting to and from local agricultural facilities. Genesee and Niagara Counties have each had about 60 migrants workers arrested and there have been some 200 arrests in the city of Syracuse and surrounding Onondaga County.
Bloomberg Law has a report about a raid in Cayuga County a year ago that’s indicative of this kind of policing:
“More than 60 federal immigration agents, many masked and clad in military gear, stormed a family-owned granola-bar factory in upstate Cato, New York, on the first day of school one year ago this week.
“Agents forced their way into women’s bathrooms and peered over stalls inside Nutrition Bar Confectioners. They herded pregnant women and young mothers into a sweaty breakroom packed with about 160 workers, including some US citizens…
“In all, 57 undocumented workers, including some who had valid work permits or were awaiting asylum hearings, were detained that day and shipped to facilities in Texas and Louisiana. A mother of three young children, including a US citizen, was swept up and ‘wrongfully deported’ while awaiting an asylum hearing, only to be returned when the mistake came to light.”
Such scenes are becoming common across Upstate New York, with Albany a consistent hotspot for ICE detentions, as is Westchester County. In Albany County, annual ICE arrests jumped from single digits in recent years to nearly 200 annually. There have been 182 recorded ICE detentions over a 16-month period in the village of Port Chester in the town of Rye, NY.
In Rockland County, which has a large migrant population, at least 117 people have been taken by ICE agents in the latest round-up.
70% Have No Criminal Convictions
While the Trump administration and DHS officials frequently make the claim that the immigration sweeps only target dangerous criminals, but federal data shows that is not true.
There is considerable evidence showing that a major portion of those swept-up in recent mass deportation raids have no criminal histories and many are here legally, or are actually US citizens targeted for their appearance, language, or accent.”
In Cayuga County “agents told factory managers they were searching for two violent offenders, possibly involved in a homicide. Five days after the raid, acting US Attorney John Sarcone III acknowledged in a news conference that none of those detained had criminal histories, other than five charged with illegally reentering the country.”
An investigation by ProPublica identified more than 170 cases where US citizens were held by immigration authorities, spurring class-action lawsuits which argue that agents frequently detain people based on their skin color or location, before asking a single question or checking documentation.
In September 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo that lifted a lower court ban on “roving patrols,” and allowing immigration agents to use apparent race, ethnicity, language, and accents as “reasonable suspicion.”
Police in many Northern New York counties have also been cooperating with federal agents in these arrests.
Data analysis from the Syracuse University’s TRAC Report shows that nationwide, 70% of people held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction. For those who do, they are typically minor infractions like traffic violations.
ICE agents have frequently patrolled New York immigration courts (such as 26 Federal Plaza), detaining people directly after their asylum or status hearings despite their participation in the legal path to residency and employment in the United States, and having no criminal record.
Most of those arrested in Western New York are held at the ICE detention center in Batavia, NY, which has been overcrowded for months.
Speaking on behalf the of Justice Department, attorney John Sarcone acknowledged that the latest raids “didn’t capture ‘the worst of the worst,'” defending it instead as a means to “send a message” to employers, none of whom were arrested or are facing penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
Sarcone currently serves as the Acting First Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, although the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled on August 21 that he was in fact not lawfully an Acting US Attorney.
A recent investigation by Newsweek found 152 ICE and Border Patrol agents charged, convicted or sentenced for violent or sexual crimes: 86% involved sex offenses and 56% involved children.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement held 65,765 people in ICE detention according to data current as of July 11, 2026.
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Photo of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from the ICE Facebook page.
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