Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is scheduled to stand trial on Wednesday in a federal court in New York City following his arrest during an attempt to inspect rooms holding detained immigrants at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
Lander, a Democrat who is running for Congress against incumbent Dan Goldman in a district covering lower Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn, was taken into custody on September 18, 2025, at 26 Federal Plaza, a major immigration court in Manhattan.
Lander and several other local elected officials went to the sprawling tower, which houses an ICE field office, amid former President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants. As agents began arresting people at the immigration court—a move Lander's legal team described as a "stark reversal of a decades-long federal practice of largely refraining from conducting arrests at immigration courthouses"—the number of arrestees overwhelmed the capacity of processing and transfer facilities.
According to court documents filed by Lander's attorney, ICE directed its field offices to use their respective "hold rooms" to detain immigrants beyond the previous maximum of 12 hours, extending it to three days. ICE officials also stated that detained immigrants could be held even longer under "exceptional circumstances."
While individuals held in the 26 Federal Plaza hold rooms were "rarely detained for more than one day," with an average of six hours between January and April 2025, the mean detention time skyrocketed to 103 hours by mid-June 2025, Lander's team claimed. Some immigrants detained in these hold rooms filed a lawsuit, alleging overcrowded and squalid conditions.
Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE must improve conditions. On September 17, Kaplan sided with the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction "to protect those swept up in the administration's program and sent to the 26 Fed Hold Rooms from unconstitutional and inhumane treatment."
Lander and 10 other elected officials decided to inspect the 10th-floor hold rooms "and ensure that ICE was following the order... and federal and state law." The group was allowed inside 26 Federal Plaza after Lander informed security officers that they were elected officials.
Upon arriving at the 10th floor, an officer near the elevator bank, outside double doors leading to the hold rooms, "immediately told the group they would not be permitted to enter," Lander's lawyer said in court papers. The officials tried to explain their purpose, and Lander stated: "A federal judge indicated that the conditions behind that door are a violation of federal law and are cruel and inhumane, and we read that decision, and we believe it is our responsibility to come down here and see for ourselves."
They were not allowed to inspect the hold rooms, but an officer said they could remain as long as they did not bang on the doors. The group agreed to stop banging and sat down. They chanted and sang while continuing to request access, Lander's legal team said, and shared their reasons for being there. When the last elected official began explaining his motivation, an officer warned: "If you refuse to leave under federal regulation, you're going to be arrested. You are violating the law right now. You are protesting illegally."
"Only 33 seconds after the new warning was given... FPS officers began to arrest each of the seated elected officials" and issued tickets, Lander's lawyer said. Lander's ticket alleged that he "block[ed] entrances, foyers and corridors."
Federal officials offered to drop the violation in October, but one condition was that Lander "not protest inside any federal building for a period of six months." Lander refused.
