New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was released from custody late Tuesday after being arrested in a Manhattan courthouse by ICE agents who claimed he assaulted one of them while trying to observe immigration proceedings amid the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” crackdown.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Lander — whose arrest drew immediate and widespread condemnation — would actually face assault charges.
About five hours after his arrest at 26 Federal Plaza, Lander, joined by his wife and Gov. Hochul, walked out to cheers and applause from supporters gathered outside the courthouse.
Hochul told reporters “there are no charges” against Lander. “He walks out of there a free man,” she said.
But a spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is headed by Trump appointee Jay Clayton, left the door open to potentially prosecuting Lander.
“The SDNY is continuing to investigate the actions involving New York City Comptroller Brad Lander at 26 Federal Plaza today,” the spokesman, Nicholas Biase, said before noting it’s against federal law to assault law enforcement officers, destroy property and obstruct official proceedings.
Earlier Tuesday, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, said Lander “was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer” at 26 Federal Plaza, where asylum cases are heard.
“It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
Speaking alongside Hochul, Lander, a leading candidate in next week’s Democratic mayoral primary, said he “certainly did not assault an officer” and explained he was accompanying an immigrant named Edgardo when the agents moved in to arrest him.
“All I tried to do was hold Edgardo’s arm and asked the ICE agents, ‘Do you have a warrant?’ And they would not show me the warrant, and I said I’d let go of his arm as soon as they showed it to me, and they did not show it to me, and you saw what happened,” said Lander.
The comptroller said he was treated fine otherwise, although he lost a button on his jacket.
“I will be fine, but Edgardo is not going to be fine, and the rule of law is not fine, and our constitutional democracy is not fine,” he said. “I really think I failed today, because my goal was to get Edgardo out of the building so he can get back to his family. 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’s arrest comes as Trump’s administration has stoked intense outrage by rounding up immigrants in deportation raids at courthouses across the country. Many have been detained as they show up for routine check-ins on their asylum claims, facing no criminal charges or other reason to believe they could be deported.
Lander is among a group of local officials who have shown up at 26 Federal Plaza in recent weeks to observe proceedings and provide assistance to immigrants.
In video of his arrest provided by his team, Lander could be seen linking arms with the man identified as Edgardo before getting surrounded by a group of masked ICE agents who pressed him up against a wall and handcuffed him on the 12th floor of 26 Federal Plaza.
“I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway, I asked to see the judicial warrant,” Lander can be heard saying in the video as the agents cuff him. “You don’t have authority to arrest a U.S. citizen asking for a judicial warrant.”
“Where are you taking the comptroller?” one of Lander’s aides can be heard shouting at the agents as they take him into an elevator and disappear.
Within minutes of his arrest, the comptroller’s wife, supporters and local elected officials gathered outside 26 Federal Plaza, chanting, “Free Brad Lander,” and excoriating his detainment.
“I am extraordinarily proud of my husband for so many reasons, never more so than today,” his wife Meg Barnette said. She added she’s confident he will be fine while voicing concern that “all of the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart. … It’s an abomination, and it is not what we stand for in this country.”
Several of Lander’s opponents in next Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary also came to his defense, including Scott Stringer, Michael Blake, Adrienne Adams and runner-up candidate Zohran Mamdani, who all showed up outside 26 Federal Plaza. Mamdani said the comptroller’s arrest shows ICE “only has an interest in terrorizing people.”
Before showing up to the courthouse, Hochul, New York’s highest-ranking Democrat, posted on X about Lander’s arrest: “This is bulls–t.”
Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in the Democratic mayoral race who has been a harsh critic of Lander, said the comptroller did “absolutely nothing wrong” and laid some blame on Mayor Adams.
“Make no mistake: this kind of conduct is the direct result of Mayor Eric Adams handing the keys of our great city over to Donald Trump,” Cuomo said in a statement, a reference to the Trump administration’s highly controversial dismissal of the incumbent’s corruption indictment.
Adams, also a frequent Lander critic who’s seeking reelection as an independent in November’s general election, declined to comment on the comptroller’s arrest when asked about it at City Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
Later, the mayor’s spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said, “Today should not be about Brad Lander. It’s about making sure all New Yorkers — regardless of their documentation status — feel safe enough to use public resources, like dialing 911, sending their kids to school, going to the hospital, or attending court appearances, and do not instead hide in the shadows.”
The courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza has been an especially hot target for ICE in recent weeks, with roundups of immigrants happening in the building on an almost daily basis.
ICE agents conducting the arrests have been wearing masks during the raids because Trump’s White House says they fear for their safety.
The agents have been able to detain immigrants showing up at the courthouse for routine check-ins because Trump administration officials have asked judges to dismiss their asylum claims, making them subject to deportation.
Some immigration judges have recently expressed concern about the unusual tactic.
That includes just earlier this week when Judge Olivia Cassin reinstated an asylum petition filed by a 20-year-old Bronx public school student from Venezuela who was detained by ICE after getting his case dismissed last month when he showed up at 26 Federal Plaza for a check-in.
Originally Published: June 17, 2025 at 12:42 PM EDT
