Brad Lander released after hourslong detention by ICE

New York City mayoral candidate and Comptroller Brad Lander was released Tuesday afternoon after spending several hours in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lander was detained after observing immigration court hearings and trying to accompany a man out of the courtroom.

“I’m going to sleep in my bed tonight safe with my family,” Lander said, adding that the immigrant man he was accompanying was still in detention without a lawyer. “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.”

In videos of the chaotic scene of his detainment, Lander can be heard repeatedly asking several officers to see a judicial warrant as they roughly manhandle him down a hallway and into an elevator with a member of his security detail. Lander was detained at about noon, according to on-scene reporting from the outlet The City, where federal agents were positioned to make arrests.  

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens!” Lander shouts in one video as he is pushed up against a wall and put in handcuffs.

A couple of hours later, ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement saying that Lander was arrested for “assaulting a law enforcement officer and impeding a federal officer,” but appearing with Lander after he was released, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she was informed there would be no charges. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York said they were investigating.

It’s the third time in recent weeks that Lander has observed immigration hearings at 26 Federal Plaza, the federal building where immigrants in deportation proceedings appear for court hearings. It’s something he and advocates have been doing as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have sent agents to make arrests while defendants show up for their mandatory court hearings.

Rabbi Barat Ellman, who was also court watching at the time, told reporters that she witnessed Lander being detained when he attempted to accompany a defendant out of immigration court and the man was quickly approached by ICE agents. When Lander demanded to see a judicial warrant, the agents handcuffed him against the wall. A member of Lander’s NYPD security detail was with him and remained with him when he was detained, becoming the only line of contact Lander’s staff and family had to him throughout the afternoon. 

“I sure know that what I saw today was not the rule of law,” Barnette told reporters at a press conference she convened shortly after the incident. “That was not due process.”

Following his release, Lander said that he and his group had been able to successfully escort a family out of their court proceeding, but that he wasn’t able to do the same for the man he identified as Edgardo. “I did not come today expecting to get arrested,” he said. “I really think I failed today because my goal was to get Edgardo out of the building and back to his family.”

Lander’s detainment comes after Newmark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested last month while protesting outside a new immigration detention facility known as Delaney Hall. His arrest – and subsequent detainment that lasted several hours – drew outcry from a number of the New York City mayoral candidates, including Lander who quickly crossed the Hudson River to demand that Baraka be released.

It’s unclear to what extent Lander's arrest will affect the mayoral race – but it’s likely to help him. Early voting kicked off over the weekend and most polls currently place the city comptroller in third place – some ways behind Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and front-runner Andrew Cuomo. President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is highly unpopular in the city and it’s possible that Lander’s defiance – first, in escorting immigrants from court and now, in actually being detained – could boost his image as someone who will fight back against Trump. The arrest also comes the day after The New York Times editorial board published a cautionary piece urging New Yorkers not to vote for democratic socialist Mamdani, with measured praise for Lander. And as far as the dynamics between the candidates in what’s often been a contentious race, Lander’s arrest seemed to bring many of them together Tuesday afternoon.

Mamdani, whom Lander cross-endorsed last week, attended the press conference convened by Barnette. Fellow mayoral candidates also showed up to speak out for Lander, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former Assembly Member Michael Blake, state Sen Zellnor Myrie and former Comptroller Scott Stringer. “ICE has no interest in the law. It has no interest in order. It only has an interest in terrorizing people across the country,” Mamdani said. “We know today’s arrest is but one example of what ICE is doing every single day across this country.” 

Speaking with reporters following a rally he held with labor groups in Union Square park, Cuomo described the arrest as “breathtakingly ugly and brutal.” 

“This is a city official with security guards. Imagine a family in a Home Depot, or a family in a school, or a family walking down the street and you are basically attacked by these ICE thugs,” Cuomo said. “What situation are they in?”

When asked after his release about the other mayoral candidates who showed up at 26 Federal Plaza throughout the afternoon to denounce his detainment, Lander guessed (correctly) that Cuomo hadn’t been one of them, however.

Mayor Eric Adams’ office didn’t respond until hours after the detainment and shortly before Lander’s release. Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams, said: “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.” Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone posted a photo on X of Lander’s anguished face during the arrest and captioned it “Academy award goes to…”

Lander denied that his immigration court watching amounted to a political stunt. And he said his detainment on Tuesday wouldn’t deter him from doing it again in the future. “I will absolutely be back here,” he said.

This is a developing story. It was most recently updated at 5:15 p.m. on June 17.