Brad Lander Denounces Trump Administration After ICE Arrest

Brad Lander is positioned underneath arrest by ICE and FBI brokers exterior federal immigration courtroom on Tuesday.
Picture: Olga Fedorova/AP Picture

Brad Lander, town’s comptroller and a Democratic candidate for mayor, was launched from federal custody Tuesday afternoon after being arrested by brokers at a courthouse in decrease Manhattan.

Lander was escorting an immigrant man he referred to as Edgardo exterior immigration courtroom when the person was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers and “stripped of his due-process rights.” When he moved to guard the person, Lander was arrested.

“I shall be advantageous, however Edgardo shouldn’t be going to be advantageous and the rule of legislation shouldn’t be advantageous and our constitutional democracy shouldn’t be advantageous,” he mentioned.

Lander was accompanied by Governor Kathy Hochul, one of many many Democratic officers who gathered in his assist. Although the federal authorities initially touted its arrest of Lander and its intent to cost him with assaulting legislation enforcement and impeding a federal officer, Hochul informed reporters that these costs had been dropped. “Whereas that could be a constructive consequence in a really high-profile case, we’re additionally involved about people who’re strolling out of this courthouse taken away from their households. They don’t have the eye; they don’t have the attorneys,” she mentioned.

Lander, a progressive, was on his third go to to the federal courtroom to escort immigrants. In video taken by NY1 reporter Courtney Gross, he was seen in a hallway accompanying a person whose case was reportedly dismissed after a listening to. As masked ICE brokers approached to detain the person, Lander locked arms with him and requested for the brokers’ badge numbers and to see a warrant for the person’s arrest.

“Do you will have a judicial warrant? I’ll let go you probably have a judicial warrant,” Lander mentioned.

Brokers then separated Lander from the person, shoving him up in opposition to a close-by wall to position him in handcuffs, accusing him of obstructing an official continuing. “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. residents,” Lander shouted. “I’m not obstructing. I’m standing proper right here within the hallway. I requested to see the judicial warrant.” He was taken away in an elevator together with a number of of the masked brokers and the top of his safety element. The Metropolis experiences one agent was overheard saying to a different minutes earlier than Lander’s arrest, “Do you wish to arrest the comptroller?”

Lander was accompanied by his spouse, Meg Barnette, who informed reporters following his arrest that they have been shortly “swarmed” by federal brokers because the comptroller escorted a person by means of the courthouse hallway after his immigration listening to. “They mentioned, ‘You’re obstructing,’” she mentioned, in response to the Related Press. “I used to be shoved out of the best way.”

Quite a few public officers gathered exterior the immigration courthouse in decrease Manhattan in a present of assist for Lander, together with Hochul, who was seen embracing Lander’s spouse and later getting into the courthouse herself. Additionally rallying to Lander’s aspect have been his rival Democratic candidates reminiscent of Zohran Mamdani, Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senator Zellnor Myrie, and former assemblymember Michael Blake. They have been joined by others, together with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Metropolis Councilmembers Justin Brannan and Tiffany Caban, and State Senator Julie Salazar.

The comptroller’s different mayoral challengers, together with former governor Andrew Cuomo and state Senator Jessica Ramos, additionally condemned the arrest. Mayor Eric Adams, who has ceaselessly clashed with Lander, didn’t remark publicly on his arrest and a Metropolis Corridor spokesperson would go on to subject a assertion hours later.

“Right this moment shouldn’t be about Brad Lander. It’s about ensuring all New Yorkers—no matter their documentation standing— really feel protected sufficient to make use of public assets like dialing 911, sending their children to high school, going to the hospital, or attending courtroom apperances, and don’t as an alternative cover within the shadows,” Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus mentioned.

Lander’s arrest comes one week earlier than the Democratic main, with early voting already underway. His marketing campaign has lacked the kind of grassroots pleasure propelling Mamdani into second place in most polls behind Cuomo. The 2 progressives just lately cross-endorsed one another within the race. Final week, Lander obtained a quasi-endorsement by the New York Instances’ editorial web page as the very best candidate to be mayor.

Lander is simply the most recent Democratic politician to have been focused by federal immigration authorities in current weeks. Final month, Newark mayor Ras Baraka was arrested exterior an ICE facility in Newark after brokers briefly clashed with assembled protesters and politicians. Consultant LaMonica McIver was charged on account of that incident, accused by federal prosecutors of assaulting brokers. Final week, Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly faraway from an area press convention for Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and handcuffed after he tried to ask her a query.