Just a week before New York City’s primary election, the city’s comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander is the latest elected official to be taken into custody by federal immigration officials who are ramping up large-scale arrests outside immigration courtrooms across the United States.
The democratic candidate is running to be the city’s next mayor, aiming to succeed incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.
On Tuesday, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested and detained Lander at an immigration court while he was escorting a person out of a courtroom, according to his campaign, as reported by The Associated Press.
Video posted on Bluesky shows Lander’s detention inside 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court. He is forcibly removed by masked federal agents and calmly asks: “Do you have a judicial warrant? Show me the warrant.”
This photo of ICE arresting Brad Landerwhose only crime was asking to see a warrantis fucking insane. What the hell is happening to this country!? pic.twitter.com/7a5IpoTMDv— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) June 17, 2025
ICE is a federal law enforcement agency housed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS said on X that “Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” The social media post also said: “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. https://t.co/lPo9hsmfhY— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 17, 2025
Last Thursday, Democratic Sen.�Alex Padilla of California�was forcefully removed from�Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noems news conference�in Los Angeles and handcuffed by federal officers as he tried to speak up about�immigration raids prompting L.A.’s recent protests, as well as those across the nation.
Widely circulated video of that incident showed a Secret Service agent on Noems security detail grabbing Padilla by his jacket and shoving him, as the senator interrupted her and asked a question at the news conference.
Speaking on the comptroller’s official YouTube channel, Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, also a lawyer, said Lander was still in custody Tuesday afternoon at the time of this writing. “What I saw here today is not the rule of law,” she added, per NBC New York.
It remains to be seen if the increasingly aggressive behavior of ICE agentswho are targeting not only immigrants and green card holders but now also arresting American citizens and elected officialsis legal.
Who is Brad Lander?
Democrat Brad Lander is New York City’s 45th comptroller and has held the position since 2022. According to his campaign website, he is currently running for mayor “to deliver a safer, more affordable, and better-run New York City.”
Lander is a self-described “dad, Brooklynite, and a lifelong public servant who has spent his career solving New Yorkers problemsfirst as an affordable housing leader, then in the City Council, and now as NYC Comptroller.”
According to his campaign site, his priorities include: ending street homelessness for people with serious mental illness; solving the city’s affordability crisis by building affordable housing, freezing the rent, increasing homeownership, expanding free childcare and afterschool programs; and delivering a better run city government by cleaning up corruption.
