PULSE POINTS
❓What Happened: Multiple elected Democrats have been arrested or charged with crimes tied to obstructing federal immigration enforcement across several U.S. cities and courtrooms.
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👤Who’s Involved: Sen. Alex Padilla, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Mayor Ras Baraka, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Judge Hannah Dugan, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials.
📍When & Where: Arrests occurred between April and June 2025 in California, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin.
🎯Impact: The arrests highlight growing federal-local tensions over immigration enforcement and raise legal questions for several prominent Democratic figures ahead of 2026.
A growing number of Democrats, including elected officials, have now been arrested or charged with obstruction of justice and other crimes. The cases reflect mounting tensions between federal immigration enforcement and Democrats, particularly in sanctuary cities and states that have long resisted cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) was handcuffed by federal agents for interrupting a news conference. The conference was held by Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, in a federal building in West Los Angeles on June 12, 2025. Noem was addressing recent pro-illegal immigrant riots in Los Angeles when Padilla abruptly stood up and approached, shouting, “I have questions for the secretary!” before being confronted by Secret Service agents. Video footage shows the senator struggling with multiple agents before being dragged from the room and ultimately pinned to the ground by federal agents and arrested.
Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller and a Democratic mayoral candidate, was arrested on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, by federal agents at an immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan. He was holding onto an illegal alien whom federal agents were seeking to arrest and demanding to see a warrant. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman said that Lander had assaulted and impeded a law enforcement officer. He has yet to face any formal charges.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Mr. Lander insists repeatedly in video footage of the incident. “I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.” However, immigration lawyers say agents do not require judicial warrants to make arrests in immigration courts because they’re public spaces.
Ras J. Baraka, Mayor of Newark, was arrested at a disorderly protest outside an ICE detention center. Additionally, three Congress members with Baraka were detained at the scene on May 9, 2025. Baraka was taken to a separate federal ICE detention facility in Newark and charged with trespassing. Five hours later, he was released. Tricia McLaughlin, for the DHS, called the episode a “bizarre political stunt” in a social media post. She shared video footage from the arrest, stating, “The mayor has been informed that he is more than welcome to enter the facility, as long as he follows security protocols like everyone else.”
New Jersey Representative LaMonica R. McIver was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly assaulting two federal agents while trying to block the arrest of Newark Mayor Ra J. Baraka outside the Delaney Hall federal immigration detention center on May 9. Robert Tansey, a special agent with the DHS, said that McIver tried to use her body to prevent the mayor’s arrest, “slammed her forearm” into an agent, and “tried to restrain” him by “forcibly grabbing him.” If convicted, McIver faces up to a maximum of eight years for the two obstruction counts and one year for the third count.
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who is officially nonpartisan, has been charged in federal court with felony obstruction of justice and misdemeanor concealment after allegedly helping a man avoid arrest by U.S. immigration authorities in April 2025. According to federal prosecutors, Dugan escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back door on April 18, 2025, after learning of U.S. ICE agents in the courthouse seeking to arrest Flores-Ruiz for being in the country illegally. Dugan could face up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty, and her trial has been postponed. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended the judge, saying it is in the public interest to temporarily relieve her of her duties as she faces federal charges.
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