NYC Mayoral Candidate And City Comptroller Brad Lander Arrested At Immigration Court

New York City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested, handcuffed and led away by masked agents at immigration court on Tuesday in a shocking display of force in President Donald Trump’s America.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” video shows Lander saying to the people detaining him.

“I’m not obstructing ― I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrants,” he tells them. At least one of the people detaining Lander is wearing a Police ERO vest, indicating the agent is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lander was at the courthouse escorting someone attending their immigration hearing, as he’s done in the past.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told HuffPost that he was arrested for “assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.”

“It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment,” she continued. “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told a crowd of protesters gathered outside the federal building where Lander was arrested that she was told no charges have been filed or will be filed.

“He walks out of there a free man,” she said of the comptroller.

“This is New York,” Hochul added. “Land of immigrants. We’re proud of them.”

“I’m happy to report I’m just fine. I lost a button,” Lander said, taking the podium from the governor.

“But I’m going to sleep in my bed tonight safe with my family,” he continued. “I don’t have to worry about my due process rights. At that elevator, I was separated from someone named Edgardo, who I had just met a couple of minutes earlier. Edgardo is in ICE detention, and he’s not going to sleep in his bed tonight. So far as I know, he has no lawyer.”

Lander said ICE treated him “just fine,” noting that two of the ICE agents that detained him were immigrants themselves living in the city’s outer boroughs. He stressed the importance of supporting immigrants through nonviolent means, and praised New York as “the greatest immigrant city the world has ever known.”

When reached for comment, the White House accused Lander of attention-seeking.

“Like many Democrat politicians before him, Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander seems to think obstructing federal law enforcement is his ticket to fame,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. “Unfortunately, it’s just his ticket to being arrested.”

Lander’s office confirmed that he was escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza when he was arrested.

“I stand up to bullies — and I won’t back down from a fight,” he posted on social media shortly after. “When I’m Mayor, I will fight like hell for immigrant New Yorkers.”

Local news outlet amNewYork reported from the courthouse that Lander and his staff were walking arm-in-arm with a person who’d just had their immigration case dismissed, pending appeal. As they were walking, the outlet reported, federal agents from ICE, the FBI and the Treasury Department attempted to seize the immigrant and proceeded to detain Lander.

Arrests at immigration courthouses, including at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, have shot up in recent weeks as the Trump administration has sought to maximize the number of immigration arrests it makes daily. Rather than prioritize the arrest and deportation of people who have violent criminal records, the administration has sought to detain and deport anyone it can get its hands on — part of Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and FBI agents forcibly detain New York City Comptroller Brad Lander outside federal immigration court on June 17, 2025, in New York.

AP Photo/Olga Fedorova

In immigration court, lawyers for ICE have taken to requesting the dismissal of immigration cases against undocumented people — only to arrest them directly outside the courtroom. The arrests are based on an authority called “expedited removal,” in which someone who has been in the U.S. less than a certain amount of time or who meets other criteria is detained and deported without due process.

In the past, presidents most often used expedited removal for people who had just recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. But Trump, in both his first and second terms, has used it against a much broader group of people, including those who’ve been in the United States for as long as two years.

Zohran Mamdani, the New York State Assembly member also running for mayor, released a statement demanding Lander’s immediate release.

“This is fascism and all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.”

Lander asked to see a judicial warrant as federal agents led him away.

AP Photo/Olga Fedorova

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman called the incident a “stunning abuse of power and a threat to our democracy.”

“Arresting a public official, the duly-elected comptroller of the City of New York, for asking questions is dangerous intimidation and shows a wanton disregard for the will of the people of New York,” she said in a statement. “It sends an unmistakably authoritarian message – that ICE doesn’t care about the rule of law and that anyone exercising their right to challenge ICE and speak up for immigrants will be punished.”

Lander recently brought up his experiences as an immigration court observer during a New York City mayoral primary debate on Thursday, when he was asked what he would do as the city’s mayor should the Trump administration deploy soldiers in the city to support immigration arrests and suppress protests.

“Let me tell you about how the mayor could have a say,” Lander began. “Last Thursday, and again this morning, I went down to the federal building to observe immigration court and then accompany immigrants out past ICE agents so they could get out of the federal building and back to their families; one was a couple with kids in our city’s school system. They were worried they weren’t going to see them again.”

Federal agents placed handcuffs on Lander.

AP Photo/Olga Fedorova

That’s part of his commitment to “stand up to bullies,” Lander continued.

“I don’t back down from a fight, and I will make clear that we are going to protect the 40% of New Yorkers who are immigrants,” he said. “We’re going to keep them safe, and we’re going to keep New York City safe.”

In April, FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in her courtroom on obstruction charges, with FBI Director Kash Patel claiming she’d helped an undocumented immigrant “evade arrest.” She pleaded not guilty last month.

Sara Boboltz contributed reporting.