Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, was physically removed from a Manhattan immigration courthouse in handcuffs on Tuesday, June 17. As seen in a video from the incident, he was forced against a wall and cuffed by men wearing masks and wearing plain black shirts, while uniformed officers were visible in the background. Moments beforehand, Lander had linked arms with his staff and an immigrant who was targeted for arrest after a court hearing. The incident comes days after Senator Alex Padilla was physically removed by officers in Los Angeles, so was Lander arrested?
Who Is Brad Lander?
Lander has been the New York City comptroller since 2022. The comptroller is the city’s chief financial officer and chief auditor of its agencies.
Was Brad Lander Arrested?
As seen in a video from the incident, it appeared that Lander was arrested by masked officers. They were seen handcuffing the comptroller. According to The Independent, he was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and FBI and Treasury Department agents.
Additionally, a reporter from New York’s The City claimed they heard one officer asking another, “Do you want to arrest the comptroller?” moments before doing so.
Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad’s wife.
While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.
This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely. pic.twitter.com/jekaDFjsT1
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) June 17, 2025
Upon being handcuffed and removed from the hallway, Lander was heard saying, “show me your warrant, show me your badge” and, “I will let go if you show me a judicial warrant. I would like to see the warrant, and then I will let go.”
“I’m not obstructing, I am standing right here in the hallway,” he said, according to The Independent. “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant.”
The exact details of Lander’s apparent arrest by the masked officers are still unclear.
Why Was Brad Lander Detained?
It’s unclear why Lander was arrested by the officers, but according to his wife, Meg Barnette, an immigration court judge “chastised” Lander for entering the courtroom and threatened to lock the door, per The Independent.
“I know in all likelihood he’s going to be OK, and all the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart with inadequate explanation. It’s an abomination,” Barnette said, the outlet reported. “What I saw was shocking and unacceptable … What I saw today was not the rule of law. That was not due process.”
Lander’s mayoral Democratic opponents Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani both condemned the incident. Mamdani told reporters outside of the federal building of Lander’s arrest that this was “not about an election,” but rather, it’s about “ensuring that we protect the city and the country we love.”
“This is about ensuring that immigrant New Yorkers who come here for regular check-ins do not need to fear being separated from their families in the most brutal and cruel ways imaginable,” Mamdani added.
Cuomo, for his part, told reporters about Lander, “Today’s arrest is but one example of what ICE is doing every single day across the country. … One can only imagine the fear families across our country feel when confronted with ICE. Fear of separation, fear of being taken from their schools, fear of being detained without just cause. This is not who we are. This must stop, and it must stop now.”
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