AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

ICE agents arrested the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander yesterday as he was escorting a family out of immigration court in Lower Manhattan. Lander is running for mayor. He was handcuffed and detained by masked agents after he demanded to see a judicial warrant from agents trying to detain the man he was accompanying.

BRAD LANDER: Do you have a judicial warrant? Do you have a judicial warrant?

ICE AGENT 1: Back up. Back up. Sir, back up.

BRAD LANDER: Do you have a judicial warrant? Do you have a judicial warrant? Can I see the judicial warrant? Can I see the warrant? I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant. Where is it? Where is the warrant?

ICE AGENT 2: I have it in my hand. Sir, I have it in my hand here!

ICE AGENT 3: You’re disrupting! You’re disrupting!

BRAD LANDER: Do you have a judicial warrant? I would like to see the warrant. I would like to see the warrant.

PRESS SECRETARY: Great. Can we see it? Show it. Let us see it. Let us see it. Let us see it. We want to see the warrant.

ICE AGENT 1: Stay back. Stay back.

ICE AGENT 4: Take him in! Take him in! Take him in!

ICE AGENT 1: Get back. Step back. Step back. Step back. Please, step back.

BRAD LANDER: You don’t have authority — you don’t have authority to arrest U.S. citizens.

ICE AGENT 1: Step back. Sir, step back.

BRAD LANDER: You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens.

ICE AGENT 1: Please, stay back.

ICE AGENT 5: Step back, guys. Step back, please.

BRAD LANDER: You don’t have the — I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.

PRESS SECRETARY: And you’re arresting the comptroller while he’s trying to help here?

COMPTROLLER BRAD LANDER: By asking for a judicial warrant?

PRESS SECRETARY: This is ridiculous.

ICE AGENT 5: Stay back, guys.

BRAD LANDER: You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant.

ICE AGENT 5: Back, please. Stay back.

PRESS SECRETARY: Press. We go, too. Sorry.

ICE AGENT 5: Stay back. No, ma’am, for your own safety. For your own safety.

PRESS SECRETARY: I’m safe.

BYSTANDER: Can’t believe you’re arresting the —

PRESS SECRETARY: Where are you taking him? Hello?

BRAD LANDER: You have no authority to arrest U.S. citizens. Where are you taking me? And with what authority?

AMY GOODMAN: City Comptroller Brad Lander was held for several hours before being released when the New York governor came down to demand this. She had said what had happened was “bull—.” She used the whole thing. He exited the courthouse building accompanied by his wife, as well as Governor Kathy Hochul. He spoke to supporters gathered outside the arrest and the man he was attempting to escort, who he named Edgardo.

BRAD LANDER: I certainly did not assault an officer. I engaged in an — anyway, so, but I guess I just think here’s the thing. Like, I know I will have due process, and I will have a good lawyer, and my rights will be protected. But Edgardo has no due process rights and no lawyer and is going to sleep tonight in God knows where, in an ICE detention facility. …

My goal was to walk Edgardo out of the building. I can’t tell you the bit of — like, we got to walk one family out today, and that’s this family of four that’s back at home. And nothing would have made me happier than to be able to get in that elevator and let Edgardo go about his business. That was what I came to do, and it is all I wanted to do.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined in studio by the comptroller of the city of New York, Brad Lander.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!

BRAD LANDER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: I last interviewed you when you were at a protest calling for the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, Columbia student who was arrested in Vermont. Talk about what happened yesterday.

BRAD LANDER: Yeah. I’ve been going down to immigration court now for the last three weeks, since Department of Homeland Security made this change and started basically stripping people of their status. It’s called “dismissing” their cases, which sounds good, except as soon as it happens, you’re subject to expedited removal. And so —

AMY GOODMAN: So, they say, “The case is dismissed,” the judge says it, and then ICE agents meet you at the door and arrest you?

BRAD LANDER: It’s even a little worse than that. You know, you think in the courtroom, “Maybe this is good.” People don’t understand what’s happening. The person before Edgardo is a person named Zed who speaks Yoruba, but the only translator they had for him was in French. And the judge asked, “Do you understand what’s happening?” And, of course, he said no.

So, your case is dismissed. You’re stripped of status. You walk out of the courtroom. You walk down the hallway. And then those masked ICE agents are waiting in the elevator lobby to grab you. And so, what I had done with five families previously, or individuals, is just meet them either in the courtroom or just outside it and just try to escort them down the hallway, into the elevator and out of the building.

And five times previously, including once yesterday, my wife and I were able to do that. And this family that was worried they were going to get deported, they only have one more week, but at least they have a chance to come back to court and present their case. But then, in this case, as I was asking to see the judicial warrant, they just grabbed them up.

AMY GOODMAN: But don’t you have a police escort of security? So, you have police versus ICE now?

BRAD LANDER: The previous time — so, you know, being comptroller, I’m a citywide elected official. It comes with an NYPD detail. The previous times, the officer accompanied me and the — you know, whatever, the family or individual I was walking with, this couple, Maria and Manuel, a father named Camilo and his son Brian. And I thought, “Great, here’s the NYPD joining the comptroller to escort these asylum seekers out of the building, to help them get due process and safety.” In this case, obviously, that did not matter. And look, I think what’s happening here — go ahead. Sorry.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, and, Brad, it’s been a while since we talked, but —

BRAD LANDER: It’s great to see you, Juan.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — I wanted to ask you — you kept saying to the ICE agents, “Where’s your judicial warrant?” However, ICE is claiming that this was a public space, and they didn’t need a judicial warrant. What’s your understanding?

BRAD LANDER: I mean, I’ll leave this for the lawyers. I am not an immigration lawyer. What people have been instructed to ask is, “I need to see a judicial warrant.” And we’re trying to get good information to these families. What New York City should be doing is connecting people to lawyers and attorneys. And, you know, we’ve got a mayor here, Eric Adams, who sold New Yorkers out to Donald Trump and is failing to get people the information they need.

We could be talking to immigrant families in the schools, in the shelters, in the public hospital system. But yes, asking for a judicial warrant is a good idea for people to do. Having a lawyer is even better. And look, if they do proceed to charges here, I know I’ll have one. Edgardo doesn’t have one. Zed doesn’t have one. Thousands of people just trying to seek asylum don’t have lawyers or due process rights, and that is the tragedy right now.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And this trend now throughout the country of federal agents basically roughing up and detaining or arresting elected officials — Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, and a congresswoman there in California, a U.S. senator, Alex Padilla, and now this situation with you?

BRAD LANDER: Yes, I mean, and Pam Bondi was very clear: They’re trying to wreak havoc in cities, they say, to “liberate” Democratic cities from their duly elected elected officials. This is part of what authoritarians do: strike fear into immigrant families and communities and try to undermine the rule of law and basic democracy by stoking conflict. And that is what they’re doing. Our challenge is to find a way to stand up for the rule of law, for due process, for people’s rights, and to do it in a way that is nonviolent and insistent, demands it, but also doesn’t help them escalate conflict.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you something. There was a rally as you were being held inside, and your wife, who’s a lawyer, she also spoke. She wasn’t taken like you were. Mayor Adams sent police to break up that rally. Did he ever support you? I mean, you had Zohran Mamdani there speaking out. He’s your competitor; he is running for mayor, as well. You had Adrienne Adams, even Andrew Cuomo spoke out for you, Michael Blake. But what about the mayor?

BRAD LANDER: Yeah, five mayoral candidates showed up, and I’m grateful to every one of them, including Zohran Mamdani, who I’ve cross-endorsed. Andrew Cuomo did not show up, but at least he issued a statement saying that my arrest was wrong.

Eric Adams, who has sold this city out to Donald Trump — to try to get his own pardon, let’s be clear. Like, it’s only himself he cares about, and he is putting New York’s immigrants in harm’s way. So, no, he did not call me. He didn’t do anything to help, and issued a just rude statement.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to that co-endorsement, because we want to get to ranked-choice voting. It is not known to most people in this country what it is. But we’re going to go to a clip right now of the two of you, Zohran Mamdani and you, Brad Lander, endorsing each other, what this means. You’re both running for mayor.

BRAD LANDER: We both love New York City.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: And that’s why it’s so important to not send scandal-ridden, corrupt Andrew Cuomo to City Hall.

BRAD LANDER: New Yorkers deserve so much better than a disgraced creep.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Agreed.

BRAD LANDER: Zohran, you’ve done a remarkable job building a historic grassroots campaign for a New York City all New Yorkers can afford.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Brad, you’ve been a principled, progressive leader in our city for years.

BRAD LANDER: Early voting stars tomorrow, and we both know what we need to do to save our city from Andrew Cuomo. You want to tell them?

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: You go first.

BRAD LANDER: Nah, you go first.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Let’s do it together.

BRAD LANDER & ZOHRAN MAMDANI: We’re cross-endorsing.

BRAD LANDER: In New York City, we have ranked-choice voting. That means you can rank up to five candidates for mayor.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Brad and I are officially telling our supporters, “If I’m your number one, rank Brad number two.”

BRAD LANDER: “Rank me number one, rank Zohran number two.” Let’s send Andrew Cuomo…

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: …back to the suburbs.

AMY GOODMAN: So, there, you have a very confusing ad. You’re both running for mayor. Explain ranked-choice voting and what this means.

BRAD LANDER: Ranked-choice voting, instead of just getting one candidate, you can rank your preferences up to five. “Here’s my number one candidate, my number two candidate.” So, we’re encouraging me, rank me number one, rank Zohran Mamdani number two. Don’t rank Andrew Cuomo anywhere. And that way, our votes would get combined, and whichever of us is ahead will face Andrew Cuomo with all of the combined votes. Most New Yorkers don’t want him to be mayor, and ranked-choice voting can help make sure that that happens.

AMY GOODMAN: In this last 20 seconds, New York for All Act, can you explain what it is, why you’re supporting it?

BRAD LANDER: New York City is a sanctuary city, but New York state needs to do more to protect immigrants, not to allow collaboration with ICE, and to provide more legal representation to people like Edgardo.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for being with us, Brad Lander, New York City comptroller, Democratic mayoral candidate. ICE agents arrested him Tuesday for escorting a man out of his immigration hearing yesterday.

That does it for our show. We have job openings: senior headline news [producer], director of audience. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.