FBI Made Over 8,900 Arrests, Located 1,410 Child Victims Under Operation Summer Heat 2.0

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has located 1,410 children and arrested 8,927 individuals in around three and a half months under Operation Summer Heat 2.0.

Compared to Operation Summer Heat 1.0, which concluded in 2025, arrests are up 3 percent and the number of children located is higher by 34 percent, according to a Sept. 30 post on X by FBI Director Kash Patel. A total of 5,013 weapons have been seized in the current operation, a 120 percent jump from last time.

Operation Summer Heat 2.0 – active between June 1 and Sept. 20 – included the seizure of more than 59,525 pounds of cocaine and more than 1,499 pounds of fentanyl. Six most-wanted fraudsters were caught during this period, while six alleged cybercriminals were extradited.

In an Aug. 29 post on Facebook, FBI Omaha said that under Operation Summer Heat 2.0, they worked with various state, local, tribal, and federal partners in Nebraska and Iowa, resulting in the arrest of around 95 individuals and the seizure of 119 weapons.

The FBI said in a Sept. 14 statement that the operation led to the arrests of 662 individuals across the state of Louisiana, with 315 firearms seized.

“Communities are safer because of our ongoing partnerships and initiatives like Operation Summer Heat 2.0,” Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp said in the statement. “Incarcerating a dangerous criminal for one night or even a few hours is 100 percent ineffective at maintaining public safety. However, putting them in prison for years, is a different story.”

“This year, the FBI reported the largest year-to-year decrease in violent crime since we started collecting and reporting numbers in 1936,” Tapp said.

Last year’s Operation Summer Heat, which ran from June 24, 2025, to Sept. 20, 2025, had led to the arrests of 8,629 individuals, with 2,281 firearms being seized. In addition, 1,053 children were identified or located.

A July 2026 report from the think tank Council on Criminal Justice that assessed crime statistics across various U.S. cities found decreases in various crimes.

Homicides were down by 18 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the first half of last year, according to the report. In addition, aggravated assaults were down 2 percent and gun assaults were down 6 percent.

In a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement, Lauren Bis, assistant secretary at the DHS’s Office of Public Affairs, credited the Trump administration’s policies for lower crime rates, saying it was no surprise that the decline in crime coincided with the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants.

The Council on Criminal Justice suggested in a July 23 statement that no single factor may be responsible for the declining crime numbers.

“Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map, in cities with different political leadership, housing and economic conditions, policing and prosecution strategies, violence reduction models, and levels of federal enforcement activity,” Council on Criminal Justice President Adam Gelb said in the statement.

“Local policies and programs surely matter, but the striking consistency of the decline suggests that macro-level forces are exerting enormous influence as well,” Gelb said.

Criminal Illegal Immigrants

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to crack down against criminal illegal immigrants.

On Sept. 29, the DHS announced that it had recently deported several illegal immigrant gang members, including violent assailants, burglars, and murderers.

Among the deported were a Surenos gang member from Mexico convicted of second-degree murder, a Mexican Mafia gang member with aggravated assault and murder convictions, and an MS-13 gang member with an international warrant for murdering a police officer, the department said.

The DHS also announced on Sept. 30 that it had added 5,000 more illegal immigrants to its Worst of the Worst website. Launched in December, the website allows people to search through a database of dangerous illegal immigrants arrested nationwide.

With the addition of the 5,000, the total number of criminal illegal immigrants displayed on the site is now at over 40,000, according to the agency.

“This is still just a fraction of the total amount that the brave men and women of ICE work every single day to get off our streets and out of our country,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the statement, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The Trump Administration is committed to transparency, and that’s why this website allows the American people to see for themselves what kind of dangerous illegal aliens ICE is removing from their communities,” Mullin said.