New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and FBI agents outside a federal immigration court Tuesday in New York.Olga Fedorova/AP
Law enforcement officials detained New York City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander at an immigration court Tuesday as he attempted to escort a man out of the building.
Meg Barnette, Lander’s wife, confirmed the detention in a post shared to her husband’s official account on X.
Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary of public affairs, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that Lander “was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” It is still unclear whether Lander will be charged by federal prosecutors. He was released, according to local reporting, in the afternoon.
It is one of a number of dramatic moments in which a Democratic official has been detained by federal officers. Five days ago, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was thrown to the ground and handcuffed after he interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference.
Video shared on X by Courtney Gross, an investigative reporter at NY1 News, shows Lander and others attempting to escort a man out of the building after his case was reportedly dismissed. The Trump administration, in an attempt to ramp up deportations, has increasingly been dismissing people’s immigration cases then immediately arresting them at immigration courts across the country.
In the video, Lander holds onto the man that agents appear to be trying to arrest and does not let go.
“I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” the comptroller says. “Where is it? Where is the warrant?” About 10 seconds later, the agents—some of whom were wearing masks—grab Lander and place him in handcuffs. The other man is placed into an elevator by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway,” Lander says as he is being detained. “I asked to see the judicial warrant.” He adds, “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens asking for a judicial warrant.” The masked agents then refused to answer questions about where they were taking the comptroller.
Shortly before Lander was detained, a reporter from The City asked him why he was spending the last days of the mayoral primary court-watching. “I don’t think there’s any place that’s more important to be right now than bearing witness and trying to stand up for the rule of law,” Lander told the outlet. That reporter also described hearing an agent say to another, “Do you want to arrest the comptroller?”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, wrote on social media that ICE needed only an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant. “But ICE refuses even to show him that, which is outrageous,” Reichlin-Melnick added. “If they have a warrant, they should show it. If they don’t, they don’t have arrest authority. But him holding on to the guy…could be trouble.”
The Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts have become a flashpoint in the New York City mayoral race. Lander has trailed in third place in recent polls behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Early voting in the primary began Saturday. Earlier this month, Lander observed immigration hearings at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan. The New York Times reported that he had escorted out migrants who seemed to be at risk of detention.
Mamdani, who recently cross-endorsed with Lander, called for the comptroller’s immediate release. “This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice,” he said.
