Brad Lander arrested, released later by ice agents for an allegedly attacked agent
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The New York controller and candidate for town hall Brad Lander was arrested by Department of Internal Security (DHS) Agents on Tuesday after pretending to attacked a federal officer.
A few hours later, Lander came out of the federal courthouse where he was detained alongside the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul. At a press conference outside the courthouse, Hochul said accusations against Lander had been abandoned, although the US prosecutor’s office for the South New York district said that he continued to investigate “Lander’s actions.
“The security and security of official procedures, government officials, police officers and all the public members who participate there are at the center of our office,” said Nick Biase, public affairs head of the American prosecutor’s office. “The Ministry of Justice will continue the violations of the federal law.”
“Our heroic agents of the application of ice laws are faced with an increase of 413% of assaults against them – it is false that politicians who seek higher functions undermine the security of the police to obtain a viral moment,” said a spokesperson for the DHS. “No one is above the law, and if you put your hand on an agent of the police, you will make consequences.”
Video sequences of the arrest of Lander seemed to show it hooked Immigration and customs application (ICE) agents while escorting a defendant outside the immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, asking officials on several occasions if they had a judicial mandate.
“I will let go when you show me the judicial mandate!” Lander said in the video. “Where is he?! Where is the mandate?!”
New York Brad Lander controller, wearing a tie, was arrested on Tuesday by DHS agents. (Brad Lander / X)
The executive director of the New York Civil Liberties union, Donna Lieberman said that arrest, which, according to her, was motivated by Lander “asking questions”, was an abuse of power and a threat to democracy.
“Stoping an official, the duly elected controller of New York City, for asking questions is a dangerous intimidation and shows a free contempt for the will of the inhabitants of New York,” Lieberman wrote in a statement. “This sends an undoubtedly authoritarian message – that the ice does not care about the rule of law and that anyone who exercises its right to challenge the ice and to speak for immigrants will be punished. All elected officials and candidates for a position should condemn this arrest in the strongest terms and defend New Yorkers.”
New York Prosecutor General Letitia James described Lander’s actions as “defending immigrants”.
“It’s deeply unacceptable,” James wrote in a statement. “The judgment of the Lander controller for the simple act of defense of immigrants and their civil rights is a shocking abuse of power. No one should face fear and intimidation in a courthouse, and it is a grotesque climbing of tensions. The crawling targeting of the administration of New Yorks is only our less safe communities.”
The candidate for town hall Andrew Cuomo condemned the arrest, calling “uncontrollable” ice. (Reuters / David ‘Dee’ Delgado)
Other civil servants went to social networks to react to high -level arrest.
“This is the latest example of the extreme boost of Trump’s ice out of control – one can only imagine the fear that the families of our country feel when they are confronted with ice”, the former governor of New York and candidate for the town hall of New York Andrew Cuomo Written on X. “Fear of separation, fear of being withdrawn from their schools, fear of being detained without just cause. It is not who we are. It must stop, and it must stop now.”
Candidates to the mayor Scott Stringer And Zohran Kwame Mamdani called for the release of Lander “immediately”.
“The recent policy of the federal immigration authorities under the Trump administration is disturbing and shameful,” wrote Stranger. “I call that Brad is immediately released. I hope to see him soon on the countryside.”
“It’s fascism and all New Yorkers must speak with one voice,” added Mamdani. “Free it now.”
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The arrest comes less than a month after the abolition of charges against Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka for federal intrusion to Delaney hallA private ice installation.
