NEW YORK — Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who is running for mayor, was arrested Tuesday by federal agents at an immigration courthouse in lower Manhattan as he tried to escort a migrant out of the building to prevent his arrest.

Lander, a Democrat, was observing proceedings at the city’s main immigration courthouse, at 26 Federal Plaza, where an increasing number of migrants who appear for court have been arrested in recent weeks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Videos taken by reporters at the courthouse show Lander standing by a migrant man in a crowded hallway when several men who appear to be law enforcement officers, some wearing masks, walk up to the pair in an apparent attempt to arrest the migrant.

Confrontation Captured on Video

Lander repeatedly asks the agents whether they have a judicial warrant and walks behind them, according to one of the videos, which was posted on social media by a reporter from The City, a digital news outlet.

Lander appears to hold onto the man as the agents shepherd him toward the elevators. “I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” he says, his right hand on the man’s shoulder.

Agents can be seen trying to pry Lander away. They ultimately separate Lander from the man, push him against a wall by the elevators and place handcuffs on him.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander says repeatedly, according to the video. “I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.” (Agents do not need judicial warrants to make arrests in immigration courts because they are public spaces, immigration lawyers said.)

Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Lander, said that Lander “was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.”

“This is still developing, and we are monitoring the situation closely,” she added.

Chloe Chik, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office, said Lander was being held on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza, where migrants apprehended by ICE are typically detained.

The Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Political Implications for Mayoral Race

The arrest came a week before the Democratic primary for mayor. Lander is running in a crowded field and has been racing to make inroads against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner who has led nearly all polls. Zohran Mamdani, a state Assembly member who is running second behind Cuomo, and Lander have cross-endorsed each other.

Lander, who is part of his party’s left flank, has spent a good portion of his campaign arguing that he is the candidate best positioned to stand up to President Donald Trump’s attempts to cut funding and deport immigrants from New York City.

He has spoken repeatedly about protecting the city’s sanctuary laws, which limit cooperation between city agencies and the federal government on immigration enforcement. And he has called for an increase in city funding to provide legal representation to immigrants facing deportation who do not have lawyers.

Escalating ICE Enforcement Tactics

Tuesday marked the third time that Lander had appeared at the city’s immigration courts, where ICE agents, typically wearing masks, have become a regular presence as the agency ramps up arrests of migrants showing up for routine court hearings.

Prosecutors with the Department of Homeland Security have surprised a number of migrants by dismissing their cases when they appear in court, a legal tactic that opens the door for ICE agents to arrest them in the hallways once they leave and place them in fast-tracked deportation proceedings without hearings.

Several Democratic politicians, including members of Congress, have shown up at immigration courthouses in recent weeks to protest the Trump administration’s new tactics.

During his previous appearances, Lander sat quietly during hearings and then escorted a few families who seemed at risk of arrest out of the courthouse and to a nearby subway station. His arrest Tuesday marked his first altercation with federal agents patrolling the courthouse hallways, lobbies and elevators.

His campaign appeared to quickly move to capitalize on his arrest, with his wife, Meg Barnette, posting a video of the episode from Lander’s official campaign account on social media.

Cuomo also condemned the arrest.

“This is the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE out of control — one can only imagine the fear families across our country feel when confronted with ICE,” he wrote in a post on social media.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Luis Ferré-Sadurní
c. 2025 The New York Times Company