“What Authoritarians Do”: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander Speaks Out After ICE Arrests Him in Courthouse

New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested outside an immigration courtroom Tuesday. Lander has been volunteering as an observer and escort for people with immigration hearings in recent weeks. In this case, while accompanying a man named Edgardo, a group of ICE agents approached the two men, who were walking arm in arm. Lander asked repeatedly to see a judicial warrant before being handcuffed and detained. Lander was later released after New York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the arrest and visited New York City to lobby for his release. Five other mayoral candidates also condemned Lander’s arrest, although current Mayor Eric Adams has stayed silent. Adams “has sold this city out to Donald Trump to try to get his own pardon,” says Lander. “Let’s be clear: It’s only himself he cares about, and he is putting New York’s immigrants in harm’s way.”