Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller and Democratic congressional candidate, was found not guilty on June 11 of blocking an elevator entrance during an arrest tied to his protest of immigrant detention conditions at 26 Federal Plaza.
NEW YORK — Brad Lander stepped outside the federal district court building in Manhattan on June 11 knowing the verdict had landed.
Wearing a New York Knicks cap and a suit, the 56-year-old former New York City comptroller told reporters that what happened inside immigration detention facilities was unacceptable and that the legal outcome reflected a system he said was meant to work differently.
Lander’s lawyers said he was acquitted on a criminal charge tied to his September arrest during a protest about immigrant detention conditions. A federal magistrate judge found him not guilty of blocking an elevator entrance.
Lander was arrested in September while trying to advocate for inspection of immigrant detention conditions inside a Manhattan federal building. His lawyers said he was joined on Sept. 18 by other elected officials who had also protested what they described as unsafe detainee conditions in a temporary holding area in 26 Federal Plaza.
“What I got here is what the rule of law is supposed to look like,” Lander said outside court. “What is happening in those buildings is a perversion of the rule of law.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court building where Lander was arrested has become a flashpoint for immigration-related tensions. Federal officials have detained people attending immigration court hearings and routine check-ins with federal immigration officials there. The same federal building has also been used to house immigrant detainees after they were apprehended at hearings or check-ins.
A federal court ruling in May blocked immigration agents from making arrests at immigration courts inside the building, but tense protests have continued both inside and outside the complex. Those gatherings have been met with forceful responses by federal officials and New York City police.
Lander himself had been arrested previously in June 2025, according to the account of events described in court and in reporting around the case, when he tried to escort a man out of immigration court.
In December, Lander pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case moved to a bench trial on June 10, and the judge returned a verdict a day later.
Whatever happens in the June 23 Democratic primary, Lander said he planned to keep showing up at the immigration court building.
Lander, a liberal Democrat, is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, for the seat representing New York’s 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Polls show Lander leads Goldman by double digits ahead of the June 23 Democratic primary.
He is endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Lander and Mamdani formed an alliance in the 2025 mayoral election that proved key to securing a Mamdani win, and Lander is among a slate of left-leaning candidates Mamdani has backed across New York City districts.
The case’s outcome arrives with momentum on Lander’s campaign trail, but it also lands in the middle of a broader fight over how immigration detention and enforcement play out on the ground at 26 Federal Plaza—where legal constraints, protests, and arrests have repeatedly collided.
Brad Lander immigration court protest 26 Federal Plaza detention conditions NYC comptroller Dan Goldman June 23 Democratic primary Zohran Mamdani bench trial federal magistrate judge