While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad Lander, the Democratic mayoral candidate and comptroller of New York City, was detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after he asked them to produce a judicial warrant authorizing the detention of the man they were trying to arrest.
Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, posted from her husband’s official X account saying he, “was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.”
Lander was released and walked out of 26 Federal Plaza around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said the charges against him have been dropped. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said federal prosecutors are still investigating.
Lander had linked arms with a man and had repeatedly asked to see a judicial warrant containing evidence of the grounds for the man’s deportation when they were “swarmed” by masked agents.
Lander was elected comptroller in 2021. He is one of several candidates running in the Democratic mayoral primary slated for June 24.
In videos depicting the incident, Lander can be heard demanding a judicial warrant for the man’s deportation, and he clearly informed the ICE agents that he is a U.S. citizen and that they have no authority to arrest US citizens.
In the video, a federal agent can be heard telling Lander, “You’re obstructing.” Lander told the agents as he was being handcuffed, “I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway.”
ICE does not have the authority to detain, question, or arrest a U.S. citizen. It’s illegal for federal immigration authorities to hold Americans in detention.
The New York Civil Liberties Union called the arrest “a stunning abuse of power and a threat to our democracy.”
However, an analysis showed that long before Trump began his reckless crusade, hundreds of American citizens each year find themselves in local jails on federal detainers or held in immigration detention centers. Aides say Trump was serious when he floated the unthinkable and illegal idea of deporting American citizens.
“Brad Lander’s arrest is the result of the authoritarian crisis New York City faces under Donald Trump and all those who enable him,” said Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman who is Lander’s rival for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
“Standing up for our immigrant neighbors should be celebrated, not condemned,” said Mamdani. “All New Yorkers must speak in one voice and share one message: release Brad now. We will not rest or grow quiet until Brad — and the immigrant communities who call New York City home — are safe.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James called Lander’s arrest “profoundly unacceptable.”
“Arresting Comptroller Lander for the simple act of standing up for immigrants and their civil rights is a shocking abuse of power,” said James. “No one should face fear and intimidation in a courthouse, and this is a grotesque escalation of tensions. The administration’s rampant targeting of New Yorkers only makes our communities less safe.”
This is only the latest of several high-profile federal arrests of a Democratic politician.
Sen. Alex Padilla was arrested and thrown to the ground when the California lawmaker tried to ask Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem a question during a news conference five days earlier.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in late April for allegedly trying to help an undocumented defendant avoid arrest. She has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested during a congressional visit to an immigration detention facility in May.
While officials dropped the case against Baraka, a federal grand jury indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver on three criminal counts after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey alleged that she broke the law in a physical altercation with some of the 20 Homeland Security agents who descended on the Mayor outside the ICE facility gates, and illegally seized Baraka.
The indictment stems from a confrontation that erupted days after the Delaney Hall center opened, despite criticisms — and a lawsuit — from the city of Newark. The corporation that owns Delaney Hall, GEO Group, was awarded a 15-year, $1 billion federal contract to reopen the 1,000-bed facility in late February.
The city said GEO Group bypassed necessary city permits and permissions during the process of reopening the center. The Department of Homeland Security denied those claims, but the federal agency and private company have refused NJ Today’s request for copies of valid permits and evidence that the facility passed safety inspections.
Four detainees escaped just weeks after the mayor demanded the Delaney Hall detention center be inspected, which might entitle him to say, “I told you so,” but instead of dealing with the facts, Trump administration
McIver and other lawmakers were on an inspection visit to Delaney Hall when the Newark mayor joined them there. McIver’s group sought to intervene when federal officers ordered Baraka to leave and moved to arrest him, according to official accounts and images from the scene.
A photographic timeline assembled by The Jersey Vindicator suggests that the mayor never made it much farther than the security gate before walking back out and being arrested by federal agents.
A lawsuit filed by Baraka against interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba seeks damages for “false arrest and malicious prosecution. It also names Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge in Newark.