The latest Democratic elected official to be illegally handcuffed and/or detained and/or arrested and/or manhandled by ICE is New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is also a candidate for mayor of the city – one the New York Times probably would have endorsed if it hadn't set itself a no-local-endorsements policy.
Lander was at immigration court on Tuesday, escorting a man out of the courtroom. When ICE agents tried to drag the man away, Lander attempted to intervene by asking if they had a warrant. Rather than answering, they manhandled and handcuffed him, as he correctly pointed out that "You do not have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens."
When Sen. Alex Padilla was dragged out of a room and forced to the ground for attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question, the Trump administration claimed he hadn't identified himself as an elected official. Even though the video clearly showed he had done so. That excuse would be even less plausible this time, because 1) a reporter from THE CITY overheard one ICE agent say to another "Do you want to arrest the comptroller?" shortly before they did so, and 2) Lander has his own NYPD security detail, who were with him when this occurred.
"New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement that flagrantly contradicted what was clearly visible on video, just as in Padilla's case.
Lander may be the first white male public official to get this treatment from agents of the Trump administration for attempting to insist that they obey the law when it comes to detaining and deporting people, But he joins a senator (Padilla), a mayor (Newark's Ras Baraka), and a congresswoman (LaMonica McIver, who has been charged with "forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers") on that list. This is not something that should be happening in a nation ruled by laws.
Once again, Democrats at every level have a chance to react to evidence of this ongoing emergency as if it was an emergency. Most Senate Democrats emphatically failed that test when their own colleague Padilla was assaulted. Will this by the moment that breaks the dam of Democratic hesitancy? Sadly, I'm not betting on it, but I'd be overjoyed to be wrong.
Here's shortly video of his detention, full video coming.
— Gwynne Hogan (@gwynnefitz.bsky.social) 2025-06-17T16:14:26.415Z
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