Masked federal agents handcuffed and detained yet another Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday, this time in New York City.
Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate and New York City’s current comptroller, was arrested by federal agents, many of them masked, while accompanying another individual out of an immigration hearing at a courtroom in Lower Manhattan.
In video of the arrest that has gone viral, Lander has his arms linked with the man, and demands proof that the arresting agents are following the law. “I would like to see the judicial warrant,” Lander repeatedly says as a gaggle of officers — including ICE agents and other members of federal law enforcement –ushered the pair down a hallway of a federal immigration court building. An officer can be heard saying “take him in” before Lander is pushed up against the wall by a smaller huddle of men, several of whom do not appear to be wearing regular uniforms, and handcuffed.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said as he was cuffed. “I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway”
In a statement on social media, Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, wrote that her husband was “taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.” Barnette added that “this is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely.”
The detention comes in the heat of the primary race for mayor, to be held on June 24. Zohran Mamdani, one of Lander’s opponents in the mayoral race, wrote a social media post in solidarity, insisting that Lander’s arrest “is fascism,” and that “all New Yorkers must speak in one voice. Release him now.”
The arrest came just days after FBI agents tackled and handcuffed Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) after he attempted to speak during a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
In a speech on the Senate floor, which took place only minutes after Lander’s arrest, Padilla did not address the detention of the New Yorker. But he recounted that he has yet to be provided a reason for why he was tackled and handcuffed by federal agents.
“If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the authority [sic] to simply ask a question, imagine what they’ll do to any American who dares to speak up. If what you saw happen, can happen when the cameras are on, imagine not only what can happen, but what is happening in so many places where there are no cameras,” Padilla said.
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