City comptroller Brad Lander was arrested by ICE agents on Tuesday at a federal immigration court in Manhattan.
Lander, who is running in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary next week, was taken into custody at the immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza.
Moments before his arrest, Lander had demanded to see a judicial warrant for a man leaving an immigration hearing. Lander grabbed the man’s shoulder and refused to let go as ICE agents tried to drag the man away.
“I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant. Where is it?” Lander said.
Eventually, the agents forcibly separated the two and arrested Lander as well after an officer gave the command, “Take him in.”
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander can be heard telling the agents as he is handcuffed.
“I’m not obstructing, I am standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant,” he said.
Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad's wife.
While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.
This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely. pic.twitter.com/jekaDFjsT1
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) June 17, 2025
ICE just cuffed & tackled NYC Comptroller @bradlander for asking them to prove they had a warrant to make an arrest.
The Trump Admin is going after elected officials in broad daylight. Imagine what they'd do to you when cameras aren't around. pic.twitter.com/sJHGyaX1rB
— Young Democrats of America (@youngdems) June 17, 2025
This photo of Brad Lander getting arrested by ICE is something else pic.twitter.com/r749thivYx
— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) June 17, 2025
Lander was detained for several hours. When he was released, he walked from the federal immigration courthouse alongside Governor Kathy Hochul and his wife and announced that charges against him of assaulting and obstructing the federal agents had been dropped.
Lander and others had reportedly been going to the immigration court during hearings for several days. He and others had been linking arms with illegal migrants who were likely to be deported. On Tuesday, he linked arms with an illegal migrant whose asylum case had just been dismissed, his wife Meg Barnette said, just before ICE agents arrested them both.
“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,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to the New York Post. “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
Democrats in New York City, Los Angeles, and other blue cities have spent much of the last week protesting the Trump administration’s mass deportation operations.
In New York City, though, it’s election season — the Democratic primary for mayor will be held in exactly one week on Tuesday, June 24.
Lander is up against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is currently leading in the polls despite multiple scandals that led to his resignation as governor, including his handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and sexual misconduct allegations.