New York Metropolis Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested Tuesday by masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers at federal immigration courtroom in Decrease Manhattan.
A U.S. Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson stated Lander was arrested for assaulting regulation enforcement and impeding a federal officer.
Lander was launched a number of hours later. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated expenses towards him have been dropped.
Lander’s workplace stated he was taken into custody by ICE brokers whereas observing courtroom. He has been attending immigration hearings for the previous a number of weeks to look at and, by his personal account, assist to escort individuals out of courtroom so they do not get arrested by ICE.
“Whereas escorting a defendant out of immigration courtroom at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked brokers and detained by ICE,” Dora Pekec, Lander’s marketing campaign spokesperson, stated in an announcement.
Video from the courthouse shot by a member of Lander’s staff showed Lander being placed into handcuffs. A livid Lander might be heard telling brokers that they had no proper to cuff him.
“You do not have the authority to arrest U.S. residents asking for a judicial warrant,” he might be heard saying throughout his arrest.
“Our heroic ICE regulation enforcement officers face a 413% enhance in assaults towards them — it’s improper that politicians looking for increased workplace undermine regulation enforcement security to get a viral second. Nobody is above the regulation, and when you lay a hand on a regulation enforcement officer, you’ll face penalties,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated.
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York stated it’s persevering with to research the incident.
“The protection and safety of official proceedings, authorities officers, regulation enforcement officers, and all members of the general public who take part in them is a core focus of our workplace,” the spokesperson stated.
Beneath federal regulation, assaults on regulation enforcement or different public officers, destruction of property and obstruction of official proceedings are all prohibited.
Lander speaks out after arrest
“I am glad to report I’m simply superb. I misplaced a button,” Lander joked after he was released. “However I’ll sleep in my mattress tonight, protected with my household. I am grateful to listen to that the fees are usually not being introduced. But when they’re, I’ve received a lawyer. I haven’t got to fret about my due course of rights. At that elevator, I used to be separated from somebody named Edgardo, who I had simply met a few minutes earlier. Edgardo is in ICE detention, and he is not going to sleep in his mattress tonight. As far as I do know, he has no lawyer. He has been stripped of his due course of rights by a authorities and a decide that owe him a reputable concern listening to earlier than they deport him, and but have determined as an alternative to strip people like Edgardo. So I shall be superb, however Edgardo isn’t going to be superb, and the rule of regulation isn’t superb, and our constitutional democracy isn’t superb.”
Lander stated he is accompanied 4 households out of prior hearings “all of whom have been afraid they have been going to be detained by ICE brokers.”
“It is a sorry day”
Hochul spoke out after Lander was launched.
“It is a sorry day for New York and our nation,” Hochul stated. “The video is surprising. I knew I wanted to return down right here instantly [to] test on whereabouts and do what I might to intervene.”
Hochul stated the fees towards Lander have been dropped.
“I simply wish to say: We’re a greater nation than this. A much better nation than what we’re experiencing. That is New York. That is New York, a land of immigrants. We’re happy with them. As I stood within the hallway upstairs on the ninth flooring ready to know the whereabouts of my good friend, nearly everybody I spoke to who labored there in safety and in any other case, they got here from different international locations. They’re immigrants, themselves. Remember that.”
“Immediately shouldn’t be about Brad Lander. It is about ensuring all New Yorkers — no matter their documentation standing — really feel protected sufficient to make use of public assets, like dialing 911, sending their youngsters to high school, going to the hospital, or attending courtroom appearances, and don’t as an alternative cover within the shadows,” a spokesperson for New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams stated.
“ICE arresting Brad Lander for asking questions is a surprising abuse of energy and a menace to our democracy. Arresting a public official, the duly-elected comptroller of the Metropolis of New York, for asking questions is harmful intimidation and reveals a wanton disregard for the need of the individuals of New York. It sends an unmistakably authoritarian message — that ICE would not care concerning the rule of regulation and that anybody exercising their proper to problem ICE and communicate up for immigrants shall be punished,” ACLU of New York Government Director Donna Lieberman stated. “All elected officers and candidates for workplace ought to condemn this arrest within the strongest phrases and get up for New Yorkers.”
“That is an abomination. The violence that you simply witness from a sitting citywide official who merely standing to bear witness [to] what is going on to different people, that violence you noticed him expertise, simply think about what they do to people who find themselves much less well-known,” New York Metropolis Councilmember Alex Avilés stated.
“What I noticed in the present day was not the rule of regulation,” Lander’s spouse says
Lander’s spouse, Meg Barnette, held a news conference outside the courthouse, saying she was with him when he was arrested.
“I joined him in the present day, as a result of that is the third time that he has completed courtroom watching right here, and I’ve been moved and horrified and located his tales very compelling, and I needed to be right here with him to witness for myself,” Barnette stated. “What I noticed was surprising and unacceptable and never in accordance — I’m an legal professional. I have not practiced regulation shortly, however I certain know that what I noticed in the present day was not the rule of regulation. That was not due course of, and the way in which individuals are being handled is completely unacceptable on this metropolis and this nation.”
She informed reporters Lander and different advocates had repeatedly requested to see the judicial warrant and grounds for deportation they usually have been linking arms with the individual in query.
“We’re surrounding the person, locking arms. We requested — I used to be a part of the group — and we requested quite a few occasions for the warrant, for his or her names, for his or her badge numbers. It was unclear what company they have been from, they’re in full uniform, in lots of instances, with a masks pulled up over the bridge of their nostril,” stated Barnette. “So Brad, I assume, was saying, ‘I’m an American citizen, I’m asking you for the judicial warrant, you do not need grounds to arrest me.'”
Barnette informed CBS Information New York Lander was arrested as he was strolling with linked arms with the person who had been the topic of the immigration courtroom listening to.
Lander has been going to immigration courtroom on separate events for a number of weeks after a lot of undocumented immigrants, together with a Bronx highschool scholar named Dylan, have been arrested by masked ICE brokers after they present as much as routine hearings.
Barnette referred to as that “surprising and unacceptable.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams joined the information convention and stated, “Thanks to Brad Lander.”
“Typically, all the ability we now have is to be current and to witness what is going on. And everybody of any ethical character, any ethical consciousness shall be thanking Brad Lander for being that witness and utilizing what he might the place he was with what he needed to attempt to assist somebody,” Williams stated. “What is going on on this nation, what is going on in that constructing is just unacceptable.”
Lander’s rabbi was additionally on the courthouse as an observer and spoke through the information convention.
“I share the general public advocate’s view that I’ve by no means been as happy with him as I’m in the present day, and I’ve recognized him in lots of conditions,” stated Rabbi Ellen Lippmann. “I’ve by no means been as ashamed to be an American or a New Yorker as I really feel in the present day, apart from the rebellion from all of the unbelievable New Yorkers who signify the great and the true and the proper on this metropolis.”
What advocates allege is going on in immigration courtroom
Barnette described seeing a number of instances the place the individual is informed that their case is dismissed they usually have 30 days to attraction, however stated they have been then met by brokers ready for them within the hallway.
“What I noticed occur, repeatedly, there and what I perceive from different tales has continued to occur is that these people have pending asylum instances, they’re informed, ‘Your case is dismissed.’ That feels like excellent news. It’s not excellent news. What meaning is that you’re topic to instant elimination if you go away the courtroom,” she defined. “And the ICE brokers are lining the hallway, and that’s not defined to individuals.”
“They’re kidnapping our neighbors off of the road. They’re bamboozling them, they’re tricking them to inform them to return right here and one thing good will occur. And after they hear the courtroom information, they consider one thing good has occurred. After which they’re confronted with individuals in fatigues, with masks on their faces, they usually’re taken, having not understood even what simply occurred legally and what their recourse is,” added Williams. “That’s one thing that all of us have to face up towards.”
