Chaos surrounded the arrest of Brad Lander, New York City’s Comptroller and candidate for mayor, in a Manhattan Immigration courthouse.
Lander was shown to be standing next to a migrant man when ICE officials pushed past a gathered crowd to arrest the man, as per videos taken by reporters. Lander grabs onto the migrant man, refusing to let go and follows the agents, saying he will not let go unless shown a “judge signed warrant.” The agents ultimately steer Lander away from the man and place Lander in handcuffs. According to his spokeswoman, Dora Pekec, New York City’s Comptroller “was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.” He would be released by the agents after several hours with no formal charges.
Confusion surrounds this arrest, and actions by ICE have met heavy scrutiny from Democrats and many voters.
The Department for Homeland Security stated that Lander had “assaulted and impeded a law enforcement officer,” and the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is currently investigating, confirming that federal law of course prohibits assaults on law enforcement and obstruction of official proceedings. Heavy politicization of immigration actions from the Trump Administration certainly contribute to the public perception of ICE, with Lander rejecting claims that his arrest had been a publicity stunt for his campaign, saying he “failed today because [his] goal was really to get Edgardo out of the building,” referring to the now detained migrant. Lander could be heard in a reporter video repeatedly saying, “you don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. Citizens asking for a judicial warrant.”
Still, politicians like New York’s current mayor, Eric Adams, insist the event was a stunt for candidacy. Adams posted a photo of Lander’s arrest, with the text “Academy Award goes to….”
However, Lander’s actions and arrest come amid concerns from Congressional Democrats about the legality of ICE detentions. Prosecutors with the Department of Homeland Security often surprise migrants appearing for their court hearings by dismissing their cases, allowing ICE officials to arrest them in the hallways of immigration courts as soon as they leave. Immediately, they can be placed in expedited deportation proceedings without hearings. Lander stated that Edgardo “has been stripped of his due process rights by a government and a judge that owe him a credible…hearing before they deport him.”
Whether his actions are justified, there are major merits to scrutinizing immigration case hearings. According to a memo to immigration judges found by NBC News, the Trump Administration has repeatedly planned the move to dismiss pending cases and immediately arrest immigrants to quickly increase detentions. The Justice Department instructs these judges to allow DHS lawyers to make oral motions to dismiss and then quickly grant the dismissals instead of allowing the immigrants the typical 10-day response time. While a source of the Immigration Judge’s Union has said the move is technically legal, others disagree. Greg Chen, the senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, believe the order violates the Immigration Nationality Act.
The memo misstates the statute it cites, according to NBC News. The memo states that judges can grant motions to dismiss when circumstances have changed so much that continuing is no longer in the government’s best interest. However, the Immigration Nationality Act’s wording more specifically states that circumstances of the case must have the change, not referring to the broad use of “circumstances” in the Trump Administration’s memo, which could have its meaning warped. Chen claims the mistake is deliberate, a written policy that contradicts the law. Brad Lander’s arrest is one in a series of arrests of judges and politicians protesting the Trump Administration’s efforts in what many seriously believe to be violations of immigration law.