ICE arrests Brad Lander, Jewish NYC comptroller running for mayor
The arrest came as Lander sought to protect an undocumented immigrant from the Trump administration’s practice of courthouse arrests
NYC Comptroller and Democratic NYC Mayoral candidate Brad Lander on June 05. migrants per day. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh June 17, 2025
Immigration agents arrested Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, in immigration court on Tuesday.
“While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” said Dora Pekec, Lander’s campaign spokesperson. “This is still developing and we are monitoring the situation closely.”
Lander was released later in the afternoon. He left the federal building with his wife and the New York governor, Kathy Hochul. Supporters outside the building cheered.
A video posted on social media shows masked agents pushing and attempting to handcuff Lander, who is Jewish, as he repeatedly asks them to prove they have the authority to arrest a U.S. citizen.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Lander was arrested “for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.”
In recent weeks, Lander has been accompanying immigrants to their hearings, both to observe the proceedings and help protect them from potential deportation. In the video, Lander is seen walking with a man whose immigration case had been dismissed and shielding him from detention.
Mayoral candidate Brad Lander was cuffed and detained by ICE agents after asking to see a warrant for people who were detained after an immigration hearing. Video from the city comptroller’s press secretary @chloecbristow. She says he’s still being held in 26 Federal Plaza. pic.twitter.com/cW9jIsp35b
— Jeff Coltin (@JCColtin) June 17, 2025
Lander, 55, is one of the leading candidates for New York City mayor in the June 24 Democratic primary.
Standing up to the Trump administration
The Trump administration has in recent weeks accelerated the dismissal of charges against undocumented immigrants as a means of arresting them under emergency orders now under review in the courts. In many instances, ICE agents have positioned themselves outside courts to grab the immigrants as soon as their case is dismissed.
Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, told reporters that her husband is “going to be OK.” “All of the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart with inadequate explanation, and it’s an abomination, and it is not what we stand for in this country,” she said.
Lander’s opponents in the Democratic primary denounced the incident, calling it an “abuse of power” by ICE and the Trump administration.
Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner and former governor, said the move was just the latest example of “the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE out of control” and blamed NYC Mayor Eric Adams for “handing the keys of our great City over to Donald Trump.” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams described it as an “intimidation tactic” and called on the authorities to immediately release Lander.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist candidate surging in the polls who recently cross-endorsed Lander in the ranked choice contest, called the arrest “fascism.” “We will not rest or grow quiet until Brad — and the immigrant communities who call New York City home — are safe,” Mamdani said.
Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund investor, praised Lander for standing up against Trump’s “campaign of terror against our immigrant communities.”
Who is Brad Lander?
Brad Lander is one of two Jewish candidates in New York City’s crowded mayoral race.
Lander grew up in a Reform Jewish family in Creve Coeur, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Rabbi Susan Talve, the founding rabbi of Central Reform Congregation who lit the menorah at the Obama White House Hanukkah party in 2015, officiated his bar mitzvah.
From a young age, Lander was deeply involved in social activism, serving as the social action vice president of the Reform Jewish youth movement, formerly known as the North American Federation for Temple Youth, now NFTY. The night before the 1987 mass rally at the U.S. Capitol in support of Soviet Jewry, he organized an event with Jewish activists at Washington Hebrew Congregation in D.C.
In college, Lander was an active member of Hillel at University of Chicago and worked as a Sunday school music teacher and youth group advisor at KAM Isaiah Israel, the city’s oldest Jewish congregation. After a brief period at University College London, he moved to New York at age 24 and began volunteering with Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) on the Upper West Side. He later became co-chair of the organization, leading campaigns for tenants’ rights and affordable housing.
His participation at social justice protests led to at least nine arrests for civil disobedience. The first arrest was during a 1999 protest against the police killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant. In 2019, Lander was detained during a Manhattan rally organized by Jews Against ICE in protest of Amazon’s ties to the agency.
Lander transitioned into politics in 2009, launching his first campaign for City Council. For 12 years he represented the 39th Council District in Brooklyn, which includes the neighborhoods of Park Slope and Borough Park, which are both home to significant populations of Orthodox and Reform Jews. In 2021, he ran successfully for comptroller, the city’s chief accountability officer and independent watchdog, becoming the highest-ranking Jewish city official.
In recent years, Lander has forged close relationships with progressive Jewish and liberal Israeli groups, becoming more vocal about Palestinian rights and a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Though Lander opposes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, he supported Ben & Jerry’s decision to end sales in the occupied West Bank in 2021. Since Oct. 7, Lander has regularly attended a weekly rally against the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza, has backed calls for a permanent ceasefire and met with families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
