DHS says he was arrested for assaulting law enforcement

Lander says he was escorting defendant and denies assault

June 17 (Reuters) – New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained for several hours after being arrested at an immigration court on Tuesday, the latest politician opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration raids to get caught up with law enforcement.

Lander, who is among 11 Democratic candidates seeking to replace current Mayor Eric Adams, was released after New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul went to the courthouse. She left the building with Lander and said charges had been dropped against him.

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Lander, the city’s chief financial officer, said he had been escorting a defendant out of immigration court when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He said he was “fine,” only losing a button on his shirt as he was arrested by federal agents.

“The rule of law is not fine and our constitutional democracy is not fine,” Lander said outside the court, adding that families were being separated and immigrants denied due process in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander 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. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,” she said.

Lander denied that accusation. “I certainly did not assault an officer,” he said.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office said it was investigating Lander’s actions at the federal building on Tuesday.

A video posted to Lander’s personal account on X earlier on Tuesday showed him being placed in handcuffs and led into an elevator by men in plainclothes, backward baseball caps and surgical masks. One man wore a vest that said “police federal agent.”

Item 1 of 7 New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, the latest U.S. politician to be swept up in U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration raids, exits after being arrested at an immigration court, with his wife Meg Barnette and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, in New York City, U.S., June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid [1/7] New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, the latest U.S. politician to be swept up in U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration raids, exits after being arrested at an immigration court, with his wife Meg Barnette and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, in New York City,… Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab Read more

Hochul called the arrest “bullshit.”

“How dare they take an elected official who’s been going down there for weeks, to escort people who are afraid to walk into a courthouse in the United States of America,” she said ahead of going to the courthouse.

Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown led to protests this month in Los Angeles, prompting Trump to send National Guard troops and U.S. Marines.

Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by security last week in Los Angeles, after trying to ask DHS Secretary Kristi Noem a question about the raids.

Padilla said in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday that had he had been “pushed and pulled” and was “forced to the ground first on my knees and then flat on my chest.”

The DHS said at the time that Padilla had engaged in “disrespectful political theater”.

The Trump administration has also charged Democratic U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver over a scuffle at the gate of a privately run immigration detention center on May 9 as lawmakers sought to conduct an oversight visit.

It also arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat now running for New Jersey governor, though it later dropped the case. Baraka has filed a lawsuit over the incident.

Adams is seeking re-election as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party, and has backed Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The Justice Department dismissed corruption charges against the mayor, saying the case was distracting him from helping Trump step up deportations.

Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ted Hesson; additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Hay; Editing by Donna Bryson and Rosalba O’Brien

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A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.

Lander was released several hours later. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said charges against him have been dropped.

Lander’s office said he was taken into custody by ICE agents while observing court. He has been attending immigration hearings for the past several weeks to observe and, by his own account, help to escort people out of court so they don’t get arrested by ICE.

“While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” Dora Pekec, Lander’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.

Video from the courthouse shot by a member of Lander’s staff showed Lander being placed into handcuffs. A furious Lander could be heard telling agents they had no right to cuff him.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he could be heard saying during his arrest.

“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,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York said it is continuing to investigate the incident.

“The safety and security of official proceedings, government officials, law enforcement officers, and all members of the public who participate in them is a core focus of our office,” the spokesperson said.

Under federal law, assaults on law enforcement or other public officials, destruction of property and obstruction of official proceedings are all prohibited.

Lander speaks out after arrest

“I’m happy to report I am just fine. I lost a button,” Lander joked after he was released. “But 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. 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. 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, and yet have decided instead to strip folks like Edgardo. So 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.”

Lander said he’s accompanied four families out of prior hearings “all of whom were afraid they were going to be detained by ICE agents.”

“This is a sorry day”

Hochul spoke out after Lander was released.

“This is a sorry day for New York and our country,” Hochul said. “The video is shocking. I knew I needed to come down here immediately [to] check on whereabouts and do what I could to intervene.”

Hochul went on to say, “We’re a better country than this. A far better country than what we’re experiencing. This is New York. This is New York, a land of immigrants. We’re proud of them. As I stood in the hallway upstairs on the ninth floor waiting to know the whereabouts of my friend, almost everyone I spoke to who worked there in security and otherwise, they came from other countries. They’re immigrants, themselves. Don’t forget 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,” a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.

“ICE arresting Brad Lander for asking questions is 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. 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,” ACLU of New York Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “All elected officials and candidates for office should condemn this arrest in the strongest terms and stand up for New Yorkers.”

“This is an abomination. The violence that you witness from a sitting citywide official who simply standing to bear witness [to] what is happening to other humans, that violence you saw him experience, just imagine what they do to people who are less well known,” New York City Councilmember Alex Avilés said.

“What I saw today was not the rule of law,” Lander’s wife says

Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, held a news conference outside the courthouse, saying she was with him when he was arrested.

“I joined him today, because this is the third time that he has done court watching here, and I have been moved and horrified and found his stories very compelling, and I wanted to be here with him to witness for myself,” Barnette said. “What I saw was shocking and unacceptable and not in accordance — I am an attorney. I haven’t practiced law in a while, but I sure know that what I saw today was not the rule of law. That was not due process, and the way people are being treated is absolutely unacceptable in this city and this country.”

She told reporters Lander and other advocates had repeatedly asked to see the judicial warrant and grounds for deportation and they were linking arms with the person in question.

“We’re surrounding the individual, locking arms. We asked — I was part of the group — and we asked numerous times for the warrant, for their names, for their badge numbers. It was unclear what agency they were from, they’re in full uniform, in many cases, with a mask pulled up over the bridge of their nose,” said Barnette. “So Brad, I assume, was saying, ‘I am an American citizen, I am asking you for the judicial warrant, you do not have grounds to arrest me.'”

Barnette told CBS News New York Lander was arrested as he was walking with linked arms with the individual who had been the subject of the immigration court hearing.

Lander has been going to immigration court on separate occasions for several weeks after a number of undocumented immigrants, including a Bronx high school student named Dylan, have been arrested by masked ICE agents after they show up to routine hearings.

Barnette called that “shocking and unacceptable.”

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams joined the news conference and said, “Thank you to Brad Lander.”

“Sometimes, all the power we have is to be present and to witness what is happening. And everyone of any moral character, any moral consciousness will be thanking Brad Lander for being that witness and using what he could where he was with what he had to try to help someone,” Williams said. “What is happening in this country, what is happening in that building is simply unacceptable.”

Lander’s rabbi was also at the courthouse as an observer and spoke during the news conference.

“I share the public advocate’s view that I have never been as proud of him as I am today, and I’ve known him in many situations,” said Rabbi Ellen Lippmann. “I have never been as ashamed to be an American or a New Yorker as I feel today, except for the uprising from all the incredible New Yorkers who represent the good and the true and the right in this city.”

What advocates allege is happening in immigration court

Barnette described seeing multiple cases where the person is told that their case is dismissed and they have 30 days to appeal, but said they were then met by agents waiting for them in the hallway.

“What I saw happen, repeatedly, there and what I understand from other stories has continued to happen is that these folks have pending asylum cases, they are told, ‘Your case is dismissed.’ That sounds like good news. It is not good news. What that means is that you are subject to immediate removal when you leave the courtroom,” she explained. “And the ICE agents are lining the hallway, and that is not explained to people.”

“They are kidnapping our neighbors off of the street. They are bamboozling them, they are tricking them to tell them to come here and something good will happen. And when they hear the court news, they believe something good has happened. And then they’re faced with people in fatigues, with masks on their faces, and they’re taken, having not understood even what just happened legally and what their recourse is,” added Williams. “That is something that we all have to stand up against.”

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Democrat, has been released after being held for only a few hours for allegedly assaulting an immigration official on Tuesday.

While Lander, who is running for mayor of New York City, is now being held up as a hero by many progressives, some say his arrest was more political theater than activism.

Joe Borelli, a former New York City councilman and GOP political operative, told Fox News Digital that he believes Lander’s arrest was a “staged event.”

“Election day is a week from today, and early voting has begun. Make no mistake, the purpose was to get the headlines that he’s getting,” said Borelli. “It’s instant name recognition and establishing even stronger liberal bona fides.”

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Speaking with Fox News Digital, Borelli likened Lander’s arrest to the recent arrest of Newark Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka and the detaining of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who were both detained for allegedly disrupting different federal events.

“This is the playbook for lefty politicians who want to make a get-a-headline. They try to get arrested, they get arrested and then fake outrage over getting arrested,” he said.

He went on to say that Lander’s arrest was part of a “coordinated plan” that “not only benefits Brad Lander but also Zohran Mamdani, who he has cross-endorsed.”

New York City works on a ranked choice voting system, allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference and select multiple candidates.

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“So any momentum Brad gets helps that left-leaning faction led by Zohran at the expense of Cuomo,” explained Borelli, adding that “the real loser is the taxpayers.”

Lander was arrested by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents on Tuesday after allegedly assaulting a federal officer.

Video footage of Lander’s arrest appeared to show him hanging onto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they escorted a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, repeatedly asking officials if they had a judicial warrant.

“I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” Lander said in the video. “Where is it? Where is the warrant?”

Hours later, Lander walked out of the federal courthouse where he was being held. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a news conference outside the courthouse that the charges against Lander had been dropped, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said it is “continuing to investigate” Lander’s actions.

In response to the incident, a DHS spokesperson said, “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,” said the spokesperson.

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Speaking after his release on Tuesday, Lander said, “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 accused the Trump administration of “stripping” illegal immigrants of their due process rights.

During the press conference outside the federal building, Lander said: “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. This is a sanctuary city. I was proud to cosponsor those laws. And I’m going to show up and defend them.”

He thanked the several other New York City Democratic mayoral candidates who protested his arrest and took aim at former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is the leading candidate for New York City mayor, saying, “New Yorkers deserve better in a mayor than Andrew Cuomo.”

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“I am very grateful to the other mayoral candidates who came out here to call for my release … and I really hope New Yorkers will elect one of us,” said Lander.

New York Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt responded to the incident by telling Fox News Digital that “anyone who obstructs or assaults law enforcement officials – including attention-hungry politicians – deserves to be arrested.”

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William O’Reilly, a New York Republican political consultant, also chimed in, telling Fox News Digital that he believes “Lander is just the latest idiotic New York City progressive getting arrested for supporting lawbreakers.”

“More than half of the Democratic mayoral field is running on a platform of defying U.S. immigration law. That’s all responsible voters should need to know,” said O’Reilly.

Lander’s office and campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

CNN

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN

(CNN) — New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was released from federal custody Tuesday afternoon, hours after he was arrested by officers at immigration court in Manhattan after he tried to escort a migrant whom officers were attempting to arrest.

His arrest is the latest involving a Democratic politician in an immigration-related incident.

Lander, who is running in a crowded Democratic mayoral primary set to take place next week, had been monitoring immigration court activity in the past few days, walking alongside migrants as they exited their court appointments in response to reports that the migrants were being taken into custody by federal agents following court appearances.

Lander, an elected government official in New York City for more than a decade walked out of Federal Plaza, where the New York ICE field office is located, nearly four hours after his arrest accompanied by his wife and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who joined a throng of supporters – including several of the other mayoral candidates – gathered outside the complex as news of his arrest spread.

“I’m gonna sleep in my bed tonight, safe with my family,” Lander said to reporters and a crowd of supporters. “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’s arrest is the latest example of the national political unrest over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Last month, the Department of Justice charged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver with assaulting federal law enforcement during a chaotic melee that erupted outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested but prosecutors dropped a federal trespassing charge.

Following his release, Lander said he wanted to bring attention to the dozens of migrants in New York City who are showing up to court proceedings only to be taken into custody by federal agents after their cases are dismissed.

Lander said migrants were being “stripped” of their due process rights, often appearing in court without legal representation and with limited understanding that they would be subject to arrest after their court hearing.

“Before today I had walked four families out – all of whom were afraid that they were going to be detained by ICE agents,” Lander said. “And yet they were able to walk out of the building, even though they had had their cases dismissed and are subject to expedited removal, but were nonetheless able to get out of that building and at least get back to their kids, get back to their families, try to figure out what’s next.”

The Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary accused Lander of blocking the work of law enforcement.

“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,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Hochul, who was inside the federal court building while Lander remained in custody initially responded to news of his arrest, calling it “bullsh*t.”

“We’re a far better country than what we’re experiencing,” Hochul told reporters. “This is New York. This is New York, land of immigrants. We’re proud of them.”

In the lead up to his arrest, multiple videos show Lander standing next to a man locking arms with him as officers approached. After the officers asked Lander to step aside to arrest the man, a scuffle broke out between the officers, Lander and other bystanders who tried to block the arrest.

“You don’t have a judicial warrant,” Lander can be heard saying to the officers.

The videos show Lander holding on to the man as officers struggled and ultimately moved in to arrest him. At one point, an officer puts his arm up to Lander’s neck, shoving him against a wall and placing him in handcuffs.

“While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” Dora Pekec, Lander’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.

As he was placed in handcuffs, Lander could be heard telling federal officers: “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens, I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.”

A spokesperson for the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said they are investigating.

“The safety and security of official proceedings, government officials, law enforcement officers, and all members of the public who participate in them is a core focus of our Office. The Department of Justice will prosecute violations of federal law.”

Federal law prohibits assaults on law enforcement and other public officials, destruction of property and obstruction of official proceedings, the spokesperson added.

State Attorney General Letitia James, an ally of Lander who has endorsed his mayoral campaign, told CNN Tuesday that Lander did not assault any officers and she believes officers are arresting migrants at courts because they are under pressure to meet arrest quotas.

“It wasn’t performative,” James said. “He had no intentions of getting arrested. All that he was doing as he has done in the past, was to escort an individual.”

Lander, who said he was not charged with any crime, said he would “let the case play out,” and denied the arrest was an orchestrated stunt in the last days before the election.

“I did not come today expecting to be arrested,” Lander said, adding that he felt he had failed because the migrant he had sought to escort out of the building on Tuesday had ultimately been taken into custody by federal officers.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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The progressive Democrat spent about four hours in custody before he ambled out of 26 Federal Plaza, escorted by his wife and Gov. Kathy Hochul, and announced the assault and obstruction charges against him were dropped.

Speaking to reporters and supporters outside, Lander wasted no time blasting incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Democratic mayoral primary frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, declaring New Yorkers “deserve a mayor who will protect the rights of immigrants.”

9 Brad Lander is seen being detained by ICE agents on Tuesday at 26 Federal Plaza. Dean Moses/amNewYork

“I’m happy to report I’m just fine, I lost a button,” Lander — who has been polling third behind Cuomo and Democratic socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the Dem primary — said to laughs outside the courthouse.

When Lander was asked if he hoped to pull a political stunt at the courthouse, he said this was his third visit in recent weeks to the immigration hearings.

9 Lander was taken into custody on charges of obstructing the government. AP

9 “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens,” Lander repeated in protest. AP

Eye-popping video showed Lander being manhandled and cuffed by the feds after the comptroller vocally protested masked federal agents hauling away a man — whom the comptroller later identified as “Eduardo” — leaving an immigration hearing.

Lander repeatedly demanded to see a judicial warrant as he kept his hand clutched on the detainee’s shoulder, but the agents did not produce one, video obtained by The Post shows.

After Lander refused to let go, an officer could be heard saying, “Take him in,” prompting agents to cuff him.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens,” Lander repeated in protest, video shows.

“I’m not obstructing, I am standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant. … You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens asking for a judicial warrant.”

Lander was arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security, said.

“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,” she said in a statement. “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”

9 After Lander refused to let go, a voice could be heard saying, “Take him in.” X/@bradlander

Footage posted by an amNY reporter showed no obvious assault by Lander, who was pulled away from the immigrant by several federal agents. Sources contended Lander pushed a federal agent’s hands away.

One ICE agent was overheard minutes before telling another, “Do you want to arrest the comptroller?” The City reported.

The episode involving Lander — just a week before the June 24 primary — echoed Bill de Blasio’s 2013 arrest at a protest over a hospital closure.

9 New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander exits after being arrested at an immigration court, with his wife Meg Barnette and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, in New York City, U.S., June 17, 2025. REUTERS

9 Lander was released from custody on Tuesday afternoon. REUTERS

At the time, de Blasio polled at a distant third in that year’s mayoral race — similar to Lander’s current position — but he eventually gained ground and ended up winning.

The anti-ICE protest arrest also recalled Newark Mayor Ras Baraka being cuffed in May as he demonstrated against an immigration detention facility in his city. Baraka ended up placing second in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s governor.

Lander’s attention-grabbing moment in the courthouse 12th-floor hall quickly prompted an outcry from his fellow Democrats in the mayoral race, even among his bitter enemy Cuomo, who called it “the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE out of control.”

Notably silent on Lander’s run-in with the feds, was his political nemesis in City Hall, though Adams’ spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said hours after the arrest 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,” Mamelak said in a statement.

9 Lander was at the federal court to observe immigration proceedings. REUTERS

Hochul, who had been in the city for a press conference of her own, blasted Lander’s arrest as “bulls–t” before she showed up to escort him out of the federal building.

Following his release, Lander drew attention to ICE’s arrests amid President Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.

“We are normalizing family separation,” he told the crowd. “We are normalizing due process rights violations, we are normalizing the destruction of constitutional democracy.”

Lander said while he may be fine, “Eduardo” is not.

9 After Lander refused to let go, a voice could be heard saying, “Take him in,” prompting agents to cuff him. AP

“Eduardo is in ICE detention and he’s not gonna sleep in his bed tonight,” he said. “As far as I know, he has no lawyer. He has been stripped of his due process rights.”

Lander had been at the federal court to observe immigration proceedings after Trump’s recent call for ICE to target New York City and other Democrat-led cities.

Opponents of Trump’s hardline crackdown in the Big Apple have decried ICE agents detaining immigrants for potential deportation after they show up for routine court hearings.

His wife, Meg Barnette, told reporters after Lander’s detention that he linked arms with an immigrant who had his asylum case dismissed – a step that could lead to deportation even if there’s an appeal.

The immigrant was quickly swarmed by ICE agents as Lander tried to escort him from the courtroom, a campaign spokesperson said.

9 New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. AP

Sources said Lander and others would lock arms with immigrants who were likely to face ICE detention in an effort to walk them to an elevator, and freedom beyond.

Lander had locked arms with two or three immigrants before the kerfuffle, and had let go when ICE moved in to make an arrest, sources said.

But during the final escort, Lander would not release his arms to let the feds take custody and had pushed their hands away, sources said.

The accusation that Lander assaulted a fed — besides being arguably unclear, at best, in video — drew skepticism from another source.

“I’m not sure he’s capable of assaulting a damp napkin,” the source quipped.

Lander called the DHS statement alleging assault “preposterous” in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Tuesday night.

“DHS put that preposterous statement out that everyone could see is not what was happening on the video, but they didn’t tell me any of that,” Lander said.

“They did take me to a detention room and I just sat for three-and-a-half hours in a detention room,” Lander dished, claiming he had not been told by officers why he was being held.

But Lander appears to have gotten acquainted with at least two of the federal officers involved in Tuesday’s drama.

“This was kind of remarkable in itself. The arresting officer is a Pakistani Muslim who lives in Brighton Beach. And the second officer is an Indo-Guyanese immigrant who lives in South Ozone Park in Queens. Both immigrants,” Lander told Hayes.

Lander insisted during the MSNBC interview he had no intention of getting arrested Tuesday and doubled down on his actions to oversee ICE proceedings — promising to return to the federal courthouse in the future.

“I will absolutely go back and I urge other people to do it as well,” Lander said, adding, “I will be back.”

In a statement, prosecutors at the Southern District of New York said that they were still “investigating” the episode — but did not specify what exactly they are still scrutinizing.

They added in the statement that “federal law” prohibits assaulting law enforcement officials, but did not explain why they decided not to charge Lander with a crime.