× Expand Olga Fedorova/AP Photo APTOPIX New York Immigration Court Arrest New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents outside federal immigration court on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York.

A gang of masked federal agents swarmed, manhandled, and detained New York City Comptroller Brad Lander Tuesday afternoon, as he sought to assist a defendant out of immigration court. Agents refused to give their names or agencies before they forced Lander into an elevator. They also took the New York City police officer who had been accompanying Lander as his security detail. Lander was released about five hours later.

“I’m happy to report, I am just fine. I lost a button. But, you know, I’m going to sleep in my bed tonight safe with my family. I’m grateful to hear that the charges are not being brought, but if they are, I’ve got a lawyer, I don’t have to worry about my due process rights,” Lander said at a press conference after he was released.

Standing near Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Lander told the crowd how ICE agents had separated him from a defendant he had just met, Edgardo, who is now in immigration detention.

“He’s not going to sleep in his bed tonight. So far as I know, he has no lawyer. He has been stripped of his due process rights by a government and a judge that owe him a credible fear hearing before they deport him,” Lander said. “I will be fine, but Edgardo is not going to be fine, and the rule of law is not fine, and our constitutional democracy is not fine.”

More from Whitney Curry Wimbish

The attack on Lander, who is running for mayor, is the latest instance of political violence against opposition party members, which has included the arrests of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver, after law enforcement attacked them outside an ICE facility; the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping an immigrant avoid federal agents; and the brief detention of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), whom agents wrestled to the floor for the sin of asking Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question.

Like Lander, all of them objected to the Trump administration’s immigrant terror campaign, which Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, excoriated at an impromptu press conference shortly after his detention. She had accompanied Lander for his third trip to 26 Federal Plaza to observe immigration proceedings and described proceedings designed to confuse and disorient vulnerable people before upending their lives.

“What was going on in those courtrooms is absolutely unacceptable,” Barnette said, adding that the judge “chastised” them for entering a public courtroom and said that in the future she was planning on locking her door at night. “It is a place of intimidation, it is a place of fear.”

She and Lander sat in a number of courtrooms, watching defendants getting their cases dismissed “with completely inadequate explanation” of what that meant. No one told defendants, for example, that a dismissal of their case subjected them to forcible removal by anonymous masked agents once they stepped out of the courtroom, Barnette said.

“That is not the rule of law. That is not due process. That is not acceptable in this country or anywhere else,” she said. “I am very rattled, frankly.”

“What is happening is they are kidnapping our neighbors off the street.”

In one instance, the proceeding for a man whose native language was Yoruba was held in French. The judge dismissed his case and “it was clear he had no understanding” of what had happened, Barnette said. Then he was sent out into the hall, where immigration agents were waiting.

Edgardo, the person Lander was helping when ICE agents attacked, spoke Spanish. The judge dismissed his case but said he had the right to appeal and gave him a date in July.

“So the guy thinks he has a month to appeal,” Barnette said. “Nobody says, ‘ICE is waiting for you on the other side of the door.’”

Lander and others linked arms with Edgardo to walk him to safety, she said, but agents swarmed the group, said they were an “obstruction,” pushed Barnette out of the way, dogpiled Lander, shoved him into a wall, and forced him into an elevator. In videos posted to social media, Lander can be heard repeatedly asking agents if they had a judicial warrant.

“You don’t have authority to arrest U.S. citizens. You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander said as agents grabbed him and muscled him around while telling him to stop obstructing them. “I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant … You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant.” (Technically, immigration officers can arrest anyone “for any offense against the United States” committed in their presence, though whether asking for a warrant upholds that standard is questionable.)

It’s not only the courtroom treatment of defendants that’s egregious. So are the living conditions at 26 Federal Plaza. In an interview with the Prospect, Daniel Coates, director of public affairs at Make the Road New York, said that ICE is using the building to hold people for multiple days before transferring them elsewhere, packing them in so tightly that some have no room to sleep except for on the bathroom floor. The rooms are hot because the air-conditioning is inadequate, detainees have “no opportunities to get a change of clothes or clean themselves,” have no access to medical treatment, and cannot maintain their dietary restrictions, said Coates, who spoke at the press conference held after Lander’s detention.

“The space is exploding,” Coates said, “and it’s sort of a black hole there because ICE is refusing entry to members of Congress,” who are supposed to be allowed to oversee such buildings. It’s an open question of “what actually 26 Federal Plaza is being used for,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Multiple elected officials joined Barnette and spoke out against Trump’s mass deportations. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams reiterated Barnette’s observation that immigration officials were luring people in with lies.

“What is happening is they are kidnapping our neighbors off the street. They are bamboozling them, they are tricking them,” Williams said. Agents are telling people to come to the courthouse as if something good will happen, “then they’re faced with people in fatigues and masks on their faces and they’re taken,” without understanding if they have any recourse.

Speakers said that if immigration agents were comfortable abusing an elected official in public, listeners should imagine what they’re doing to regular civilians in private. State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is running for mayor and who cross-endorsed Lander, said that although considerable attention is spent on ICE violence in California, the same cruelty is happening in New York, as Lander illustrated.

Mamdani noted that immigration agents recently snatched a Bronx high schooler when he went to a routine hearing, and that New Yorker Mahmoud Khalil is still in prison, three months after agents snatched him, even though a judge ruled that the reasons for his detention are insufficient and probably unconstitutional.

“ICE has no interest in the law, it has no interest in order,” Mamdani said. “It only has an interest in terrorizing people across this country.”

Councilmember Tiffany Cabán told the audience that ICE is a rogue agency and urged New Yorkers to protect each other.

“And if you are part of the government, if you are a government official, if you are a member of the military, understand, you do not have to obey illegal orders,” she said. “And so we are asking you to take that oath of service to your community members, to this country, to this city, very seriously. And protect ourselves, protect our neighbors, protect each other. Release the comptroller now and get ICE the hell out of our city.”

When asked if Mayor Eric Adams had a comment regarding Lander’s detention, a spokeswoman told the Prospect via email that “today should not be about Brad Lander.”

“It’s about making sure all New Yorkers—regardless of their documentation status—feel safe enough to use public resources, like dialing 911, sending their kids to school, going to the hospital, or attending court appearances, and do not instead hide in the shadows,” the spokesperson wrote.

Hochul, meanwhile, said Lander’s detention was “bullshit.”

Video posted on social media appears to show authorities detaining New York City’s comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander. Photo: Olga Fedorova/Associated Press

New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested Tuesday by authorities at immigration court in Manhattan.

A representative for Lander, a Democrat, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him while he was escorting a person who had attended a hearing out of the building.

Police arrested New York City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander on Tuesday, June 17, at an immigration court in the city. His arrest comes as voters cast their early ballots in the race to unseat current Mayor Eric Adams.

Video of the incident shows Lander linking arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain at a federal building in Manhattan. That’s when he and the person he was with were arrested.

Lander spent the morning in the courtroom observing immigration hearings. He reportedly told a journalist with The Associated Press he was there to accompany some migrants out of the building.

Video of the incident shows officials trying to separate Lander and the other person before eventually putting cuffs on both of them.

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

“You don’t have authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander could be heard saying to law enforcement. They responded by saying Lander was obstructing the officers.

“It’s a really sobering and upsetting situation that I haven’t quite processed all the way yet,” Lander’s wife Meg Barnette said at a news conference covered by ABC News following his arrest.

Later in the day, Lander was released from custody and spoke to reporters.

“This is a critical time to have a mayor who will stand up to ICE and stand up to Donald Trump and insist on due process and the laws of this city,” Lander said. “This is a sanctuary city, and I was proud to sponsor those laws, and I’m going to show up and defend them.”

This is not the first time the city’s comptroller has been put in handcuffs. In 2017, police arrested Lander along with a group of activists who stood inside the U.S. Capitol building to protest a GOP tax bill.

Lander has not been considered a frontrunner in the mayoral race, but did get some attention for a campaign ad, showing him riding a rollercoaster on Coney Island.

NYC mayoral race

Among those calling for Lander’s release is state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who called the arrest “fascism.”

There are currently 11 candidates on the Democratic ticket, with Mamdani, Lander, NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo leading the pack.

Mamdani received an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt..

At this dangerous moment in history, status quo politics isn’t good enough.

We need new leadership that is prepared to stand up to powerful corporate interests & fight for the working class. @ZohranKMamdani is providing that vision. He is the best choice for NYC mayor. https://t.co/8QiYGvTUMj — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 17, 2025

Meanwhile, Cuomo caught criticism for reportedly leaving his car in the middle of the road while attending an event in Midtown on Monday, June 16.

Mayoral primary poll

The Manhattan Institute released a new poll on Tuesday, showing Cuomo leading the pack at 43%. Mamdani polled at 30% while no other candidate broke double digits. According to the poll, Cuomo is the clear first choice among Black voters, getting 39% while Mamdani polled at 16%.

Nine of the 11 candidates have qualified for a debate scheduled for Wednesday, June 18.

Mayoral primary voting

Early voting is already underway in the race. Election Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, with polls open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST.

A ranked-choice voting method will determine the outcome, meaning voters have the ability to rank their top five choices. If one candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they win outright.

If no candidate reaches the necessary majority, the one with the fewest first-choice votes will be eliminated. Voters who chose the eliminated candidates first will then have their votes transferred to their next-highest ranked candidate who is still in the race.

That process of elimination would continue until one candidate reaches the majority needed to win.

Incumbent Mayor Adams

The incumbent, Adams, is running for reelection. But he withdrew from the city’s Democratic primary in April, announcing he would run as an independent.

His time as mayor has not been without controversy, including a federal corruption case where he was accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions. That case was dismissed in federal court after Adams agreed to help the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in the city. Adams denies any quid pro quo.

“The dismissal of the bogus case against me dragged on too long, making it impossible to mount a primary campaign while these false accusations were held over me,” Adams said in a video posted on X.