After Brad Lander's arrest by ICE inside immigration court, New York congressmen will conduct oversight visit

CBS News

18-06-2025

One day after New York City Comptroller and current Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested at federal immigration court, two members of the state's congressional delegation plan to conduct an oversight visit Wednesday.
Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler said they will observe the court proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, where Lander was arrested Tuesday. They will also request access to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office located inside the same building.
They plan to hold a news conference after the visit with immigration advocates. You can watch it streaming live around 11 a.m. on CBS News New York, in the video player above.
Brad Lander arrested by ICE agents
Tuesday's incident began with Lander holding onto a man, whom he identified as Edgardo, following his immigration hearing. Video shows masked ICE agents try to take the man into custody, and then take Lander into custody.
"You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens," the comptroller is heard saying on a video of his arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Lander was arrested "for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer."
He was released four hours later, with his wife and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul by his side.
"Charges have been dropped, he walks out of there a free man," the governor said.
"You can see what happened, and the DHS statement is not accurate," Lander later told CBS News New York.
Lander said he was volunteering with an immigration organization and was trying to accompany Edgardo out of court after his immigration case was dismissed. Lander explained the judge had been asking people with cases like Edgardo if they understood that once their case was dismissed, they would have no status in the U.S. Having no status, he said ICE can then detain and move to deport them.
Lander accuses Trump administration of "provoking conflict"
Lander said he believes what happened was politically motivated by the Trump administration.
"Pam Bondi made it very clear what they're doing. They're going after the leaders of Democratic cities with a political intention of provoking conflict," said Lander. "Donald Trump is working to strike fear into immigrant families and communities, and then provoke conflict."
Several public officials rallied against Lander's arrest, including his fellow mayoral candidates former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
"It's highly unusual and quite concerning, and I think the best evidence of that is that all charges were dropped and he was released within hours, which really does suggest it was a bad arrest," attorney Kaivan Shroff explained to CBS News New York. "ICE certainly doesn't have the authority to detain U.S. citizens in that way and, of course, they didn't really have probable cause against Brad Lander."
The United States Southern District Court of New York said it is investigating. Lander and his wife said he was arrested while asking the agents to see a judicial warrant and the grounds for deporting Edgardo.
Immigration attorneys say ICE agents do not need a warrant to arrest noncitizens in immigration court, but Shroff explained what a judicial warrant is and why it matters in this case.
"An administrative warrant, which is what ICE had, is really just a piece of paper signed by an ICE official. Whereas, a judicial warrant has that authority of a judge behind it and is signed by a judge," he said. "And why it matters in this situation is because ICE does, by immigration law, only need that administrative warrant. But in New York State, it is New York court policy to require a judicial warrant to detain an undocumented person at a place like a courthouse."
CBS News New York has reached out to ICE multiple times for details about why Lander was arrested, but the agency has not answered our questions.