New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and FBI agents outside federal immigration court in New York, June 17, 2025.
Olga Fedorova | AP
New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was released from custody Tuesday afternoon, about four hours after he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the city’s main immigration court.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called Lander’s arrest “total bulls—” in a post on X.
“When elected officials are being detained without cause, we have to ask: what the hell is happening to our country?” Hochul wrote. “This federal overreach cannot go unchecked.”
Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, wrote on X earlier Tuesday: “While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.”
Video of the incident posted online showed Lander outside a courtroom being approached by officers, including some wearing masks.
Lander repeatedly asked the officers to show him a judicial warrant before he was handcuffed, according to the video posted by Barnette.
The Department of Homeland Security said Lander was arrested for “assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.”
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they were “continuing to investigate the actions involving” Lander. As of 5 p.m. ET, Lander had not been charged with a crime.
Lander, a candidate in next week’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor, was in court observing immigration case proceedings, which he has done at least two other times, Barnette said.
The incident comes days after police handcuffed Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., after he was forcibly removed from a press conference that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was holding in Los Angeles.
“If that is what the administration is going to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question, imagine what they will do to any American who dares to speak up,” Padilla said during remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday.
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
New York Attorney General Letitia James condemned Lander’s detention as “profoundly unacceptable.”
“Arresting Comptroller Lander for the simple act of standing up for immigrants and their civil rights is a shocking abuse of power,” James said in a statement.
She also said it was a “grotesque escalation of tensions” and that the Trump administration’s “rampant targeting of New Yorkers only makes our communities less safe.”