Overview

• On June 17, ICE agents arrested New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander as he questioned a detainee’s judicial warrant outside Manhattan immigration court.
• Lander was held for four hours while federal authorities decide whether to file criminal charges over his intervention in the detention.
• His arrest follows legal actions against other Democrats, including Judge Hannah Dugan, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Senator Alex Padilla, for opposing the administration’s deportation efforts.
• The incident has thrust Lander into the spotlight of the New York mayoral race, where he trails frontrunners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani in recent polls.
• Community groups and elected officials have staged protests against intensified ICE raids, framing the arrests as part of a broader pushback on Trump administration immigration policies.