Surrounded by honking cars and chants of “ICE out of New York,” a crowd gathered on Tuesday morning outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan to protest the detention of immigrants and a shifting federal crackdown on sanctuary cities.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander had just been taken into custody after confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents inside the immigration court building during a press conference-turned-demonstration. The event was originally intended to draw attention to ICE arrests inside courthouses and escort immigrants safely from hearings. Lander was handcuffed when he refused to let go of an immigrant ICE began to apprehend as the comptroller was escorting him out of the building. Lander said he would let go when ICE presented him with a judicial warrant to detain the man. 

“You do not have a judicial warrant — why are you here?” Lander asked the agents shortly before his arrest.

The incident comes amid sweeping federal immigration enforcement changes under the new Trump administration, which began rolling back protections in January 2025. 

“There is a pattern of targeting politicians who are trying to stand up against fascism,” said Grace Lindsay, 35, a protester at the scene of the event. “The federal government has set up an infrastructure that allows people to be kidnapped and arrested off the street without accountability. This is not a democracy. New York City is being punished for being a sanctuary.”

The Department of Homeland Security in January rescinded policies that had barred ICE agents from conducting enforcement in “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and places of worship. Since then, ICE has resumed arrests in these spaces and reintroduced courthouse detentions — including in lobbies and elevators.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, more than 26,700 deportation proceedings nationwide have been initiated since the end of February. The comptroller’s office has also reported that these arrests have spiked in New York, even for some individuals whose cases had been dismissed.

In a further escalation, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal transportation funds from cities it deems non-compliant, including New York.

Federal officials have also pushed for the reopening of ICE offices inside city jails, including at Rikers Island, to streamline deportations of criminally charged migrants. While Mayor Eric Adams attempted to advance this plan earlier this year, it stalled following a court challenge backed by Lander’s office.

“I am furious,” said protester Janice Bloom, 56. “New York City failed to stop this. I’m angry at Governor Hochul for staying silent,” she said about the governor’s failure to support the New York For All Act, which, if passed, would prohibit the state and local officers from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Mayoral candidate and State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani also spoke at the rally.

“What we saw today is an example of what it means to stand up for immigrant New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. “We need Americans across this country to be safe from Trump’s ICE agents — whether they’re in their apartment building lobby, on the street or on the subway.”

Lander was released with no charges later in the afternoon and addressed a crowd of hundreds of supporters who gathered at Foley Square, just across the street from 26 Federal Plaza. In his speech, he described his brief arrest as just a glimpse into what thousands of detainees go through every day.

“I’m going to sleep in my bed tonight safe with my family,” Lander said before noting that the man he tried to prevent ICE from grabbing was now being held in an ICE detention center. “He’s not going to sleep in his bed tonight. So far as I know, he has no lawyer. He’s been stripped of his due process rights.”

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