“No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
Videos of the arrest posted online showed a chaotic scene as Lander tried to walk through a crowded courthouse hallway, his arm linked with another man’s arm.
Several law enforcement officers, some wearing masks, appeared to try to separate the two men.
Lander repeatedly asked to see a warrant, according to the videos.
“I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” he said.
“You’re obstructing,” someone called out.
The law enforcement officers then managed to separate the two men, the videos show. They pinned Lander against a wall and handcuffed him.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens,” Lander told them. “I’m not obstructing - I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.”
Lander is being held at 26 Federal Plaza, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office said.
His arrest comes a week before the Democratic mayoral primary, where he’s in fourth place among likely primary voters with 8% support, according to a May poll by Marist.
He was a member of the New York City Council until 2021, when he was elected comptroller, the city’s chief financial officer.
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in the Democratic primary, denounced Lander’s detention as “the latest example of the extreme thuggery of Trump’s ICE out of control”.
“One can only imagine the fear families across our country feel when confronted with ICE,” Cuomo wrote on X.
“Fear of separation, fear of being taken from their schools, fear of being detained without just cause. This is not who we are. This must stop, and it must stop now.”
In recent months, ICE officers have been instructed to arrest people immediately after a judge has ordered them to be deported or prosecutors move to drop their cases - increasing arrests at immigration courthouses, the Washington Post previously reported.
The Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown has prompted opposition from Democratic politicians, several of whom have clashed with federal agents.
Last month, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (Democrat) was arrested after he tried to visit a new detention facility in his city. His trespassing charge was later dropped.
Weeks later, Representative LaMonica McIver (Democrat, New Jersey) was charged with assaulting two federal agents during the same confrontation.
And last week, Senator Alex Padilla (Democrat, California) was forcibly removed and handcuffed after he interrupted a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid immigration raids in California.
