NEW YORK, June 17 (Xinhua) -- New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while escorting a defendant out of immigration court, his spokesperson said.
ICE has responded to Lander’s arrest, accusing the comptroller of "assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer," the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
"New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413 percent increase in assaults against them -- it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences," according to a statement posted Tuesday on the X account of the Department of Homeland Security.
Lander, 55, is New York City’s comptroller and a Democratic mayoral candidate who has advocated for police reform, affordable housing and migrant services.
Videos taken by reporters at the courthouse showed Lander standing beside a migrant man in a crowded hallway as several masked individuals, appearing to be law enforcement officers, approached in an apparent attempt to arrest the migrant.
Lander repeatedly asked the officers to produce a judicial warrant before being handcuffed, according to video posted by his wife, Meg Barnette.
"While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE," Barnette wrote on X. "This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely."
Barnette said Lander was taken into custody after linking arms with a man whose immigration case had just been dismissed. As of early Tuesday afternoon, he remained in custody, Barnette said at a press conference. Lander is being represented by both a personal attorney and legal counsel from the city, she added.
"I am just very aware of how I feel right now watching Brad being taken away and that it’s going to be ok, and for all of those other families in there, they can’t say that," she said.
The candidate in next week’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor has previously observed immigration court proceedings on at least two other occasions, according to Barnette.
New York Attorney General Letitia James condemned Lander’s detention as a "profoundly unacceptable" event.
"Arresting Comptroller Lander for the simple act of standing up for immigrants and their civil rights is a shocking abuse of power," James said in a statement.
She added it was a "grotesque escalation of tensions," and the Trump administration’s "rampant targeting of New Yorkers only makes our communities less safe."
This marked the second high-profile clash between immigration officials and Democratic politicians in recent days. It followed an incident in which police handcuffed California Senator Alex Padilla, after he was forcibly removed from a press conference held by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles last week.
"If that is what the administration is going to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question, imagine what they will do to any American who dares to speak up," Padilla said during remarks from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/0618/c90000-20329560.html