The incident is the latest in a series of dramatic confrontations between immigration officials and Democrats opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Last week, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was then a gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey, was also arrested on trespassing charges last month at an ICE detention facility in the state. The charges against him were dropped, but Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was subsequently charged with assaulting law enforcement during the incident. Trump and his “border czar” Tom Homan also suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could be arrested too.
The Democratic officials and their allies have argued that the incidents were politically motivated and criticized the administration’s conduct, while the Trump administration has fiercely defended immigration agents and accused Democrats of staging political stunts.
In a video posted to Lander’s personal account on X, Lander can be seen surrounded by people, including masked officers in vests adorned with the word “police.” At one point, someone can be heard saying “put him in custody,” and the men holding Lander scuffle with the comptroller before pinning him to a wall and handcuffing him.
“I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant,” he said.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he added.
Lander is then led into an elevator with his hands behind his back as an aide can be heard asking, “Where are you taking the Comptroller of the city of New York?”
During her press conference, Barnette echoed Democratic criticisms of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, arguing that judges were dismissing charges against defendants before being turned over to federal agents to begin the process of deporting them.
“This is not the way we deal with rule of law, this is not the way people are treated in the United States,” Barnette, a former attorney, said.
“I feel really rattled and scared, and my husband is a candidate for mayor, is an elected citywide official, is U.S. citizen,” she said. He “has a U.S. passport and I know in all likelihood he is okay. And all of the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart with inadequate explanation. And it’s an abomination.”
She added that a member of Lander’s New York Police Department security detail accompanied him along with the law enforcement who detained him, and that he is “well.”
Prominent city officials and politicians joined Barnette at the press conference outside the courthouse, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán and Assemblyman and fellow mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, another Democrat seeking the nomination to become the city’s next mayor, on X called the episode “the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE.”
State Attorney General Letitia James criticized “the administration’s rampant targeting of New Yorkers” in a statement and called the episode “a grotesque escalation of tensions.”
