NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander arrested at immigration court after linking arms with man being detained

New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents at an immigration court Tuesday after he linked arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain.

A reporter with The Associated Press and other journalists witnessed Lander’s arrest at a federal building in Manhattan, the latest confrontation between U.S. agents and a Democratic politician objecting to the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation programs.

Lander was released from custody after a few hours. The U.S. attorney’s office said it was investigating his actions and would decide later whether to charge him with a crime. The immigrant Lander escorted out of the courtroom was also arrested.

Lander had spent the morning observing immigration court hearings and told an AP reporter he was there to “accompany” some immigrants out of the building.

His confrontation with agents unfolded quickly. As a group of agents moved in to detain a man who had left a courtroom, Lander locked arms with the immigrant and demanded to see a judicial warrant. For more than 40 seconds, agents tried to physically separate the two, pulling both men down the hall in a chaotic scrum as photographers snapped photos.

Eventually, the agents wrested the two apart, then grabbed Lander’s arms and put them behind his back.

“You’re obstructing," an agent told Lander.

“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway,” Lander said as he was being handcuffed.

In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander “was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer."

After his release, Lander left the building holding hands with his wife and accompanied by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, to the cheers of a gathered crowd. He told reporters all he was trying to do was hold the arm of the man being detained and “certainly did not” assault an officer.

“I am happy to report that I am just fine. I lost a button,” Lander said, adding that he planned to return to the immigration court again as a nonviolent way of standing up to Trump’s immigration policies.

“I believe it is important to show up and bear witness and accompany people,” he said.

He added that the man “ripped” from his arms “doesn’t have a lawyer” and will likely sleep in an immigration detention center.

The episode occurred as federal immigration officials are conducting large-scale arrests outside immigration courtrooms across the country. In many cases, immigrants are arrested after a judge grants a government request to dismiss their case, making them eligible for expedited removal.

“They remove any opportunity for due process,” Lander had told reporters earlier in the day.

Hochul condemned the arrest.

“It’s bullshit,” Hochul told reporters when asked about it at an unrelated event, adding that Lander has been going to the courthouse for weeks to escort people who are “afraid to walk in,” despite having legal status and following the rules. “What the hell is happening to this country?”

“I know Brad Lander will be OK … But what about all the people who don’t have that high profile position?” she asked.

Lander’s arrest comes a little more than a month after Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge outside a federal immigration detention center in his city, though the charge was later dropped. Baraka’s fellow Democrat, Rep. LaMonica McIver, was charged with assaulting and impeding federal agents stemming from her role at the same visit as the mayor. She’s denied the charges.

Last week, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a news conference in Los Angeles for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as he tried to speak about immigration raids. On Tuesday, he encouraged more Americans to speak out.

Lander is a candidate in the city's Democratic mayoral primary. Early voting in the contest is underway and the election is next week. Other candidates in the race quickly weighed in to criticize the arrest.

“This is the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE out of control — one can only imagine the fear families across our country feel when confronted with ICE,” said former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running in the primary.

Zohran Mamdani, the most left-leaning candidate, also rushed to the federal building to offer support to Lander.

A spokesperson for interim U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a brief statement that the office would prosecute any violation of federal law.

“The safety and security of official proceedings, government officials, law enforcement officers, and all members of the public who participate in them is a core focus of our Office,” said the spokesperson, Nicholas Biase.

Newsday's Keshia Clukey contributed to this story.