New York City mayoral candidate arrested by immigration agents

HOUSTON, United States

New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday outside an immigration courtroom in the state of New York.

Lander, who is also the NYC comptroller and a progressive candidate advocating for police reform, was escorting a detainee out of immigration court when he was apprehended.

Video by local news outlets shows a chaotic series of events in which masked ICE agents manhandled Lander as he was clutching the detainee's shoulder as he was walking out of court.

"You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens," Lander repeated as ICE agents tried to handcuff him.

Video showed Lander repeatedly demanding to see a judicial warrant for the detainee he was with being hauled away by immigration agents.

Sources told The New York Post that Lander was arrested on an obstruction of governmental administration charge, although an official reason for his arrest was not announced by ICE.

Video shows Lander yelling, "I'm not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway, I asked to see the judicial warrant,” as ICE agents appear to pin him against the wall while placing him in handcuffs.

"While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE," Lander’s spokeswoman Kat Capossela said in a statement. "This is still developing and we are monitoring the situation closely."

Lander's arrest comes as ICE agents are conducting immigration raids across the United States as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

ICE agents have been detaining migrants at the federal courthouse in Manhattan for weeks, with Lander one of the more prominent officials observing immigration proceedings.

The ICE raids have led to widespread protests across the US, most notably in the state of California, where Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and US Marines to assist with federal immigration officials in Los Angeles.