New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was released Tuesday hours after he was arrested in connection with an episode at a federal courthouse in the city, where he and his wife were serving as advocates for defendants in immigration court, they said.
The Department of Homeland Security said Lander, a candidate for mayor, had been arrested and accused of "assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer." In a brief statement on social media, it said: “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.”
After he was released, Lander denied assaulting law enforcement. “I will not characterize the events, but I certainly did not assault an officer,” he told reporters and a crowd of supporters who had gathered to greet him.
"We are not going to allow Donald Trump to wreck the rule of law, to deny people due process and to turn our country into something that doesn’t meet its obligations under international law," Lander said.
"We are normalizing the destruction of constitutional democracy, and we’re not going to stand by and let it happen," he added.
Lander, who as comptroller is responsible for auditing the performance and finances of city agencies, is running in next week’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul accompanied him as he was released and told reporters that "to my knowledge" any charges had been dropped and Lander "walks out of there a free man."
A spokesperson said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York continues to investigate.
Hochul also called Lander’s arrest “total bull---” on X.
“When elected officials are being detained without cause, we have to ask: what the hell is happening to our country? This federal overreach cannot go unchecked,” she said. “We must meet this moment and protect our rights and values.”
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Kat Capossela, Lander's campaign press secretary, said in an email earlier in the day that “Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” a reference to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after “escorting a defendant out of immigration court."
In an MSNBC interview Tuesday night, Lander told host Chris Hayes that after he was handcuffed, federal agents escorted him to a detention room.
"They took the cuffs off, and I just sat for 3½ hours in a detention room," Lander said, adding that he was not released until Hochul showed up.
Asked whether he felt he was roughed up during his arrest, Lander said, "Yes," calling his handling by agents "not gentle."
The incident is the latest in a series of dramatic confrontations between immigration officials and Democrats opposing President Donald Trump's immigration policies.
Last week, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was then a candidate for governor of New Jersey, was also arrested on trespassing charges last month at an ICE detention facility in the state. The charges were dropped, but Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was subsequently charged with assaulting law enforcement during the incident. Trump and his "border czar," Tom Homan, also suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could be arrested, too.
The Democratic officials and their allies have argued that the incidents were politically motivated and have criticized the administration's conduct, while the Trump administration has fiercely defended immigration agents and accused Democrats of staging political stunts.
Lander can be seen in a video on his personal X account being surrounded by people, including masked officers in vests labeled with the word "police." At one point, someone says, "Put him in custody," and the men holding him scuffle with him before they pin him to a wall and handcuff him.
“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant,” Lander says in the video.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he adds.
Lander is then led into an elevator with his hands behind his back as an aide asks, “Where are you taking the comptroller of the city of New York?”
Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, criticized the Trump administration’s handling of cases involving immigrants at a news conference shortly after her husband’s arrest.
She also echoed Democratic criticisms of the administration’s immigration policies, arguing that judges were dismissing charges against defendants before the defendants were turned over to federal agents to begin the deportation process.
“This is not the way we deal with rule of law; this is not the way people are treated in the United States,” said Barnette, a former attorney.
“I feel really rattled and scared, and my husband is a candidate for mayor, is an elected citywide official, is a U.S. citizen,” she said. "And all of the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart with inadequate explanation. And it’s an abomination.”
She added that a member of Lander's New York police security detail accompanied him with the law enforcement officers who detained him.
Prominent city officials and politicians joined Barnette at the news conference outside the courthouse, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Council member Tiffany Cabán and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a fellow candidate for mayor.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, another Democrat seeking the nomination for mayor, called the episode "the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump's ICE" on X.
In a statement, state Attorney General Letitia James criticized "the administration's rampant targeting of New Yorkers" and called the episode "a grotesque escalation of tensions."
