Democratic mayoral candidate and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents at an immigration court in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.
"While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. This is still developing and we are monitoring the situation closely," said Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Lander's mayoral campaign, not long after the episode took place on Tuesday.
Later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put out a statement on X saying that Lander had been arrested.
"New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413% increase in assaults against them—it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences."
A video shared on Lander's nongovernment X account shows him holding on to a man and asking multiple times for officials to furnish a warrant. "I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant," Lander says in the video.
Lander is then separated from the man and pushed toward a wall and handcuffed. "You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens," Lander says in the video. The video shows Lander then being escorted into an elevator.
Democratic officials, in New York and elsewhere, took to social media to condemn his arrest.
"This is disgusting and horrific. He must be released immediately," wrote New York City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-22).
"NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was just arrested by [President Donald] Trump's ICE agents because he asked to see a judicial warrant," wrote state Assemblymember and fellow Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D-36). "This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now."
Last week, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was handcuffed on the ground after being forcibly removed from a news conference that was held by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
Also, federal officials recently indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), accusing her of "forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers" in relation to her involvement in a May oversight visit at a privately run migrant detention center in Newark, New Jersey and subsequent confrontation with ICE agents outside of the facility.
