NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander released after immigration court arrest

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(Reuters) -New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained for several hours after being arrested at an immigration court on Tuesday, the latest politician opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration raids to get caught up with law enforcement.

Lander, who is among 11 Democratic candidates seeking to replace current Mayor Eric Adams, was released after New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul went to the courthouse. She left the building with Lander and said charges had been dropped against him.

Lander, the city’s chief financial officer, said he had been escorting a defendant out of immigration court when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He said he was “fine,” only losing a button on his shirt as he was arrested by federal agents.

“The rule of law is not fine and our constitutional democracy is not fine,” Lander said outside the court, adding that families were being separated and immigrants denied due process in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.

“It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,” she said.

Lander denied that accusation. “I certainly did not assault an officer,” he said.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office said it was investigating Lander’s actions at the federal building on Tuesday.

A video posted to Lander’s personal account on X earlier on Tuesday showed him being placed in handcuffs and led into an elevator by men in plainclothes, backward baseball caps and surgical masks. One man wore a vest that said “police federal agent.”

Hochul called the arrest “bullshit.”

“How dare they take an elected official who’s been going down there for weeks, to escort people who are afraid to walk into a courthouse in the United States of America,” she said ahead of going to the courthouse.

Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown led to protests this month in Los Angeles, prompting Trump to send National Guard troops and U.S. Marines.

Democratic U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by security last week in Los Angeles, after trying to ask DHS Secretary Kristi Noem a question about the raids.

Padilla said in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday that had he had been “pushed and pulled” and was “forced to the ground first on my knees and then flat on my chest.”

The DHS said at the time that Padilla had engaged in “disrespectful political theater”.

The Trump administration has also charged Democratic U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver over a scuffle at the gate of a privately run immigration detention center on May 9 as lawmakers sought to conduct an oversight visit.

It also arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat now running for New Jersey governor, though it later dropped the case. Baraka has filed a lawsuit over the incident.

Adams is seeking re-election as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party, and has backed Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The Justice Department dismissed corruption charges against the mayor, saying the case was distracting him from helping Trump step up deportations.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ted Hesson; additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Hay; Editing by Donna Bryson and Rosalba O’Brien)