Politics & Government
Comptroller Brad Lander Seeks Federal Trial For Protest Outside ICE Holding Area
Officials arrested while protesting at 26 Federal Plaza in September will have federal charges dropped if they avoid arrest for 6 months.
Nov. 18, 2025, 3:30 p.m.
Lander was arrested with 10 state lawmakers on Sept. 18 by Department of Homeland Security Police after an hour-long standoff in the elevator bank of the 10th floor of the building, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement has several holding cells for recently detained immigrants.
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Following an appearance in federal court Tuesday morning, federal prosecutors offered Lander and the other elected officials a deal to drop the obstruction charges against them if they avoid being arrested inside a federal building for six months, the lawmakers said.
While the state lawmakers agreed to the deal, Lander refused it.
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“I believe the crime is not what we were doing. The crime on that day was on the other side of the 10th-floor door, where ICE agents are keeping our neighbors in cruel detention conditions,” he said, speaking to a gaggle of reporters outside the federal courthouse after the appearance Tuesday. “That’s why we were there. That’s what we wanted to see.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately return a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
Among those who agreed to the deal were left-leaning members of the legislature, including state senators Jabari Brisport, Gustavo Rivera, and Julia Salazar, and assemblymembers Emily Gallagher, Jessica Gonzalez Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Tony Simone, and Claire Valdez.
“We were afforded due process today, but so many have been robbed of that right,” Valdez said, referring to ICE’s arrests of immigrants that have been spiking since May.
On the day of their arrests, Lander and the state lawmakers were demanding to inspect the conditions of ICE’s holding cells, where THE CITY had reported on rampant overcrowding and dismal conditions.
A federal judge’s order in August, however, appears to have improved conditions for detainees and restricted the number of people ICE can keep there at once. In the months since, most people arrested in New York City are now transferred much more quickly to detention centers in New Jersey, Nassau County or Orange County or elsewhere.
This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
