❓WHAT HAPPENED: New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained by federal agents after grabbing onto a group of alleged illegal immigrants being taken into ICE custody and demanding to see a warrant following an immigration hearing.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Brad Lander, ICE agents, and individuals attending an immigration hearing.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday morning, June 17, 2025, at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City.
💬KEY QUOTE: “While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad Lander was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” the Lander campaign confirmed in a statement.
🎯IMPACT: Lander is accused of interfering in a federal immigration enforcement action. However, his actions could help boost his political profile in a crowded Democratic primary field for New York City Mayor.
Brad Lander, the New York City Comptroller and a Democratic candidate for mayor, was detained by federal agents on Tuesday morning. The incident occurred after Lander demanded to see a warrant for individuals who had been detained following an immigration hearing and grabbed onto them.
Video of the incident, shared by Lander’s press secretary Chloe Bristow, shows the comptroller being handcuffed and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Bristow confirmed that Lander remains held at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.
BREAKING: Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander was just arrested by ICE officers inside Federal Court building.
Video by @Dean_Moses @FreedomNTV Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/a5RmK3erlr
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 17, 2025
According to Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, the Democratic mayoral candidate was “escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza” when he was approached by federal immigration agents. Subsequently, Lander demands that the officers present a judicial warrant, appearing to hold onto the migrants to hinder their arrest.
Barnette noted that this is her husband’s third time this month escorting alleged illegal immigrants after immigration court hearings in Lower Manhattan.
“You have no authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” the Democrat can be heard shouting in one video of the incident, demanding: “Where are you taking me and with what authority?”
“I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway,” Lander claims in another video as he’s being handcuffed and led to an elevator, adding: “I asked to see the judicial warrant. You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant.”
Last month, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and several Democratic members of Congress were detained after allegedly assaulting ICE officials at the Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey. The incident resulted in a federal grand jury indicting Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) on three federal charges for interfering with ICE agents.
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