Latest news with #Lander
Black America Web
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- Black America Web
NYC Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander Was Detained By ICE
Source: Andrea Renault/Star Max / Getty On Tuesday afternoon (June 17), New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was accompanying an individual out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan, when he was handcuffed and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The entire interaction was caught on video by reporters and cameramen inside. 'Show me your warrant! Show me your badge!' Lander states in the video as several ICE agents surround and physically restrain him up against a wall in the hallway. 'I'm not obstructing. I'm standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant. You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,' he added. The agents then lead him into an Department of Homeland Security issued a statement afterward in a post on X, formerly Twitter, alleging that Lander obstructed and assaulted officers. '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,' they wrote. New York Governor Kathy Hochul blasted the incident in an earlier unrelated press conference. 'It's bulls—,' Hochul said. 'Brad Lander has stepped up to be a guiding help to [migrants], and this is what happens to him? What the hell is happening to this country?' She would escort Lander from the building to meet reporters at Foley Square along with his wife Meg. 'I will be fine, but Edgardo is not going to be fine,' Lander said. 'And the rule of law is not fine and our constitutional democracy is not fine.' Lander has been charged with assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer, according to Fox News Digital. There is no word on when he is expected to appear in court. The detainment comes after other incidents where ICE agents have roughly detained Democratic lawmakers. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested last month after he and other Democratic members of congress tried to enter the privately-run Delaney Hall detention center. Charges against him were dismissed by a federal judge, but officials with the Department of Justice also indicted Representative LaMonica McIver for 'interfering with federal law enforcement officers.' She stated that she would plead not guilty. California Senator Alex Padilla was also forced to the ground after trying to talk to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles a week ago. SEE ALSO NYC Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander Was Detained By ICE was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Boston Globe
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Brad Lander tried to escort immigrants facing arrest. He's not alone.
Advertisement Before, volunteers might have accompanied immigrants to hearings, but only in recent weeks have they had to consider what happens when they leave 'because ICE wasn't waiting on the other side of the door before,' said Camille J. Mackler, the founder and executive director of Immigrant ARC, a collaborative of immigration legal services providers. 'We really are just there to bear witness in a nonviolent way.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Federal agents wait in a hallway outside New York City's main immigration court in lower Manhattan following the arrest of New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, June 17, 2025. JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NYT Lander, who is running for mayor, maintained that is what he was trying to do Tuesday when federal officers approached an immigrant named Edgardo to arrest him. Video shows Lander appearing to hold on to Edgardo and refusing to let go as officers were trying to arrest the man over Lander's protestations. Advertisement The Department of Homeland Security saw it differently. The agency accused Lander of assaulting and obstructing federal officers as they were performing their duties, all to boost his mayoral campaign. The altercation thrust the work of the volunteer escorts into the national debate about Trump's immigration crackdown, due process rights and the behavior of federal immigration agents. Why are people accompanying migrants at courthouses? The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency initiated a national operation last month to begin arresting certain immigrants as they leave court hearings. The new tactic works like this: An immigrant appears for a hearing in an immigration court to determine whether they can lawfully remain in the country. Suddenly, the government prosecutor asks the judge to dismiss the case. The dismissal terminates certain legal protections that the immigrant had, allowing ICE agents in the hallway to apprehend the person and place them in an expedited deportation process. As ICE began showing up at immigration courts, so did more and more volunteers — activists, faith leaders, lawyers and everyday New Yorkers looking to get involved. They often provide immigrants, many of whom lack lawyers, with legal guidance, though not necessarily representation. They pass out flyers written in Spanish, French, Arabic and other languages informing them of their rights and explaining the government's new arrest strategy. And they take down their name, country of origin and case number so that relatives can be contacted if they are detained and to look up where they are being held. Then, the volunteers try to walk with some migrants — especially those at risk of being arrested because their cases were just dismissed — out of the hearing rooms and past federal officers. 'They are armed, and a lot of them are masked,' said Allison Cutler, an immigration lawyer at the New York Legal Assistance Group, which provides legal help to low-income people, including immigrants. 'People are terrified as soon as they step foot out of the elevator.' Advertisement What can federal agents do? ICE officers are responsible for detaining noncitizens who are violating federal immigration laws. But federal officers are generally permitted to arrest anyone who attempts to obstruct an arrest, which is a federal crime. 'We can't have anyone interfering with our ICE arrest operations,' Todd Lyons, the ICE acting director, told Fox News after Lander's arrest. 'We've always said that if anyone impedes our arrest operations, no matter who you are, you will be taken into custody,' Lyons said. As of Wednesday, the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which had said it was reviewing the incident, had not brought charges against Lander. Asked about volunteers accompanying people in immigration courts, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, said, 'Anyone who actively obstructs or assaults law enforcement, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest.' Have the volunteers prevented arrests? The main goal of accompanying immigrants, volunteers say, is to provide comfort and safety to people who are often afraid of showing up in court, especially during the string of arrests, and to make sure they are not alone if they are detained. It is difficult to gauge whether volunteers are deterring ICE agents from moving in for arrests. Before he was detained, Lander had shown up at the courts twice and escorted out immigrant families who appeared at risk of arrest after their cases were dismissed, walking them by federal agents. 'Does this excessive accompaniment mean that somebody didn't get detained?' Mackler, the leader of Immigrant ARC, said. 'Obviously, we would love for that to be the outcome, but more important, the goal would be to make sure that the person isn't alone.' Advertisement Federal agents have continued to arrest immigrants even when they are surrounded by volunteers, occasionally leading to volatile altercations between the officers and activists. Lander had been appearing at immigration court in conjunction with Immigrant ARC. Mackler said that her organization had trained volunteers not to act in a way that would provoke or escalate a situation with law enforcement officers. 'Our instructions for our volunteers are to not engage or interfere with law enforcement,' she said. 'But I'm also not going to tell a New York City elected official how he shows up to protect New Yorkers.' Who else is showing up at the courts? Representative Jerrold Nadler at an immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in New York, June 18, 2025. JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NYT Immigration courts — which are operated by a branch of the Department of Justice called the Executive Office for Immigration Review — are open to the public. In recent weeks, they have attracted more immigration lawyers looking to help migrants who do not have attorneys and members of the public who observe and document court proceedings to ensure transparency and accountability. Visitors are generally allowed to sit in during hearings after passing through metal detectors in the lobbies of the three Manhattan courthouses that have immigration courts. Judges can close certain proceedings to the public, especially those involving people who are sharing sensitive personal information during asylum hearings. Democratic politicians have descended on the courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza, which also houses ICE offices where detained immigrants have sometimes been held for days in overcrowded conditions. On Wednesday, Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, both Democrats, sought to conduct an oversight visit to the 10th floor but were denied access by the ICE deputy field office director, William Joyce. Advertisement 'Because we were told not to,' Joyce told the members of Congress during an exchange in the lobby. 'We will continue to go up the chain, and we will get answers,' Goldman later said at a news conference. This article originally appeared in .
Newsweek
a day ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
NYC Mayoral Candidate Arrested by ICE Says Agents Feel Overworked
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has told Newsweek that ICE agents expressed feeling "overworked" shortly after detaining him at a downtown court earlier this week. "I talked to the ICE agents afterward, and it's clear to me they are being overworked," Lander said in an interview on June 19. "I asked what their shifts were. And they say, we really don't have shifts anymore," he added. Lander and other critics called the arrest further evidence of what they described as a drift toward authoritarianism by the Trump administration. Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email. In response for comment to the suggestion ICE agents are being overworked, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: "Under Secretary Noem, we are delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe." The Context The White House has directed ICE to conduct 3,000 arrests per day as the administration looks to deport millions of migrants without legal status as part of a hard line mass removal policy. DHS says ICE agents are facing a 413 percent increase in assaults against them. Meanwhile, ICE has increasingly begun detaining immigrants during their court hearings, sparking protests outside immigration courts across the country, particularly in New York City. What To Know Lander was detained by President Donald Trump's immigration enforcers on June 17 at a downtown Manhattan immigration court, while accompanying an immigrant man following a hearing at 26 Federal Plaza. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents outside federal immigration court on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents outside federal immigration court on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York. Olga Fedorova/AP Photo Footage shows Lander linking arms with the man and appearing to calmly ask ICE agents to produce a judicial warrant before they separated and handcuffed him. ICE accused him of "impeding and assaulting a federal officer." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in a statement: "New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer." Lander was released the same day without charges and the incident was condemned by top Democrats including Governor Kathy Hochul. Democrats criticized ICE's conduct, describing it as politically motivated. 'Another Example of Creeping Authoritarianism' The NYC mayoral candidate said the arrest is "one more example of what creeping authoritarianism looks like. "Pam Bondi says, the Attorney General says they're looking to, quote, liberate cities from their elected officials. That is the language that fascists use," Lander said. "Trump and Bondi are frustrated that they're not able to have a higher number of deportations," Lander said. Lander, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, was detained following similar incidents. Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, was last month charged with assault after an alleged physical challenge of law enforcement officers at an immigration detention center. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who tried to join McIver and others on the same oversight visit was also arrested, but a trespass charge was dropped. Last week California Senator Alex Padilla was arrested and handcuffed at a press event to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about immigration raids. Lander said: "We need to find ways to object loudly to the erosion of due process and Trump's efforts to undermine the rule of law." Lander said he's helped several immigrant families leave court freely despite losing their asylum claims, allowing them to return to their loved ones and communities while they determine their next steps. Lander's Mayoral Chances Lander is among the 11 candidates vying for the Democratic nominee in the city's mayoral race. He recently cross-endorsed fellow candidate, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in a bid to keep the former Governor out of city hall. Cuomo resigned following accusations of sexual assault during his time as Governor. A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling on June 6–7 for Democrat Justin Brannan's city comptroller campaign found Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani narrowly leading former Governor Andrew Cuomo in a hypothetical mayoral matchup, 35 percent to 31 percent. The survey of 573 likely voters has a margin of error of 4.1 percent, placing the race within statistical parity. Despite holding citywide office and running a well-funded campaign, current City Comptroller Lander received just 9 percent support in the poll. What People Are Saying Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: "Secretary Noem unleashed ICE to target the worst of the worst. 75 percent of ICE arrests are criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges. The shocking story here is that instead of deporting many heinous criminals, the Biden Administration chose to RELEASE these known public safety threats into our communities instead of deporting them. President Trump and Secretary Noem will always fight for the victims of illegal alien crime and their families."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brad Lander, a candidate used to getting arrested, shakes up New York's mayoral race
Brad Lander is used to getting arrested. In 2015, Lander was detained during a protest in support of striking car wash workers. Two years later, Lander participated in an act of civil disobedience supporting the raise of the minimum wage in New York. Months after that, he was arrested at the US Capitol while protesting a tax reform bill he believed would favor wealthy corporations. In 2018, Lander protested outside a state senator's office as part of a campaign to renew a school-zone speed camera program. He was arrested there, too. But Lander's latest encounter with law enforcement immediately became his most famous. The New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate was arrested this week inside a federal building after he confronted federal officers to try to prevent a migrant from being taken into custody. The arrest pushed Lander into the center of a Democratic primary campaign for New York City mayor that's been dominated by rivals Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani. Images of his arrest were shared widely, even as critics questioned whether the incident was a publicity stunt a week before the June 24 primary. 'My goal yesterday was not to disobey,' Lander told CNN in an interview on Wednesday. 'But it was to show up, to put my body there, to bear witness to what was happening, to object to the lack of due process, to try to insist on the rule of law.' The 55-year-old Lander is New York City's chief financial watchdog. He previously was on the city council, where he founded the progressive caucus and helped pass legislation aimed at protecting workers, securing tenant protections and creating more affordable housing. Lander also helped pass a ban on employment credit checks. He is known in the city's political circles for his wonkiness and sharp command of municipal inner workings. He also has a nasally affectation that has been the subject of mockery by incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a longtime rival whose office has faced multiple Lander audits. For months Lander's mayoral campaign has languished amid the political comeback energy of Cuomo, the former New York governor, and the upbeat and perennially online lefty campaign of Mamdani, the state assemblyman and Democratic socialist. Lander has sided with Mamdani. The two agreed to cross-endorse each other in New York City's ranked-choice voting system, which allows residents to select up to five candidates in order. Lander tore into Cuomo during the second mayoral debate last week, bringing up specifics around Cuomo's resignation as the governor and the findings of an attorney general's office's investigation that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and violated state law. Cuomo has repeatedly denied the allegations. 'I think there is an important line right now – and it's not between moderates and progressives,' Lander said. 'It's between fighters and folders, between people who will stand up against creeping authoritarianism and people like Eric Adams, who will side with Donald Trump and allow creeping Gestapo tactics to scoop people off our streets and arrest and deport them with no due process.' During an interview with the Reset Talk Show, Adams declined to join the chorus of Democrats who condemned Lander's arrest. 'I think it was more politics instead of protecting people,' said Adams, who is seeking reelection as an independent in the November general election, bypassing the Democratic primary he won four years ago. 'It's unfortunate that he took that action, because that is not the role of the elected official, what he did today.' Cuomo holds 38% first-choice support in a new Marist poll of likely Democratic primary voters, about the same as in Marist's May survey. Mamdani stands at 27%, up 9 points since last month. No other candidate in the large field reached double-digits in first-choice votes, with Lander at 7%, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams at 7% and all other candidates below 5% support. The poll was completed before Lander's arrest. Lander, who spent nearly four hours in federal detention, said Wednesday that he would continue to bring attention to the issue of migrants facing immigration court proceedings without guaranteed access to counsel. Most of Lander's opponents gathered after his arrest to support him – though not Cuomo, who rallied with labor leaders a few blocks away from where Lander was being held to tout his union support. The former governor's camp did quickly issue a statement condemning Lander's detention. But Lander noted to reporters after his release that Cuomo hadn't been with the other candidates. 'This is a critical time to have a mayor that will stand up to ICE and stand up to Donald Trump and insist on due process and the laws of this city,' Lander said. Many in the city's Democratic political circles suggested the arrest was a last-ditch push for attention by Lander's campaign. One lawmaker noted privately that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested during a protest outside of an immigration detention center in his city, lost in the primary for New Jersey governor earlier this month. Others were quick to praise the move. 'Thank you to Brad Lander,' Jumaane Williams, the city's public advocate and a close ally of Lander, said as supporters gathered to await his release. 'Sometimes all the power we have is to be present and to witness what is happening and everyone of any moral character, any moral consciousness will be thanking Brad Lander for being that witness, doing what he could where he was to try and help someone.'
Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander released after immigration court arrest
New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained for several hours after being arrested at an immigration court on Tuesday, the latest politician opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration raids to get caught up with law enforcement. Lander, who is among 11 Democratic candidates seeking to replace current Mayor Eric Adams, was released after New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul went to the courthouse. She left the building with Lander and said charges had been dropped against him. Lander, the city's chief financial officer, said he had been escorting a defendant out of immigration court when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He said he was 'fine,' only losing a button on his shirt as he was arrested by federal agents. 'The rule of law is not fine and our constitutional democracy is not fine,' Lander said outside the court, adding that families were being separated and immigrants denied due process in Trump's immigration crackdown. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. '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,' she said. Lander denied that accusation. 'I certainly did not assault an officer,' he said. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office said it was investigating Lander's actions at the federal building on Tuesday. A video posted to Lander's personal account on X earlier on Tuesday showed him being placed in handcuffs and led into an elevator by men in plainclothes, backward baseball caps and surgical masks. One man wore a vest that said 'police federal agent.' Hochul called the arrest 'bullshit.' 'How dare they take an elected official who's been going down there for weeks, to escort people who are afraid to walk into a courthouse in the United States of America,' she said ahead of going to the courthouse. Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown led to protests this month in Los Angeles, prompting Trump to send National Guard troops and U.S. Marines. Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by security last week in Los Angeles, after trying to ask DHS Secretary Kristi Noem a question about the raids. Padilla said in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday that had he had been 'pushed and pulled' and was 'forced to the ground first on my knees and then flat on my chest.' The DHS said at the time that Padilla had engaged in 'disrespectful political theater'. The Trump administration has also charged Democratic U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver over a scuffle at the gate of a privately run immigration detention center on May 9 as lawmakers sought to conduct an oversight visit. It also arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat now running for New Jersey governor, though it later dropped the case. Baraka has filed a lawsuit over the incident. Adams is seeking re-election as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party, and has backed Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. The Justice Department dismissed corruption charges against the mayor, saying the case was distracting him from helping Trump step up deportations.
