Brad Lander detained by masked federal agents inside immigration court

[potholereseller]

The actual title of the acticle is "Brad Lander Detained by Masked Federal Agents Inside Immigration Court".

Contrary to the current title here on HN, Lander was not arrested for asking to see a warrant; TFA states the opposite, "It wasn’t immediately clear what charges, if any, the mayoral candidate will face. A spokesperson for ICE didn’t immediately return a request for comment."

If an event is so important to know about, why fabricate such an important aspect of the event in this way?

[dang]

We eventually changed it. Submitted title was "ICE arrests NYC Comptroller because he asked to see a warrant".

Submitters: please use the original title unless it is misleading or linkbait. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

[duxup]

The whole story of telling ICE agents to just go out and find people on their own seems like a setup to empower the executive branch to have their own group of thugs. Without guidance they do what want outside the judicial system and sensible oversight / rules.

This seems to be a pattern in most non democratic countries...

[mlsu]

Another thing that is troubling is that immigration law is sort of a parallel system to normal criminal law. The rights for the accused are lesser and obligations for officers are more lax. The burden of proof is lower. It's easier to get warrants and the rules of evidence are more relaxed.

There is a parallel authoritarian system being built up, starting with the creation of DHS in 2001 and ending god knows where. The massive expansion of ICE should ring alarm bells for everyone. This power grab does not end. It will expand and continue.

Why are the right libertarians and 2A folks not speaking up right now? We have masked feds rolling up and barging in without warrants...?

[NemoNobody]

Trump wants to declare martial law, he is trying to incite a reasonable enough response, the courts won't challenge him, he wants riots to be bad enough that upon his issuing the Exec Order, everyone just accepts/abides by his new king powers and obeys him like one.

[NickC25]

That's the gameplan, it's written in detail in the Project 2025 outline...

[lmm]

Most democratic countries don't have decades of regular law enforcement refusing to enforce democratically agreed immigration law, which is what has made this defensible.

[JohnTHaller]

Link in case it's removed: https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/17/brad-lander-arrest-ice-im...

[rrauenza]

I hope to see qualified immunity eventually re-evaluated by the courts due to this...

[28304283409234]

I do not understand why this is flagged.

[haunter]

Because it's HN not /r/politics

A lot of us doesn't come here to read about US internal politics

[Simulacra]

Flagged because it has nothing to do with technology, and actually goes against the rules.

[leephillips]

“The federal agents escorted him into an elevator, with one member of his NYPD security detail alongside him.”

It sounds as if the “security detail” failed at protecting their protectee.

[stingrae]

It is insane that federal agents are allowed to roam around in masks, without ID and just arrest people.

[jkestner]

Even more insane that the lack of accountability means that common criminals and vigilantes pose as federal agents to kidnap or rob people. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/us/ice-impersonators-on-the-r...

[mindslight]

It's also insane that state governors haven't deployed their national guards to keep the peace against these lawless masked kidnap gangs [0]. Arrest them with guns drawn like any other violent criminals in the act, and keep them in jail until state judges can review the details of their situation.

This applies more to other kidnappings and less here, because this happened in a fascist-controlled building. But the point is we need to start drawing these types of hard dividing lines based on state authority following the law in good faith, rather than deferring to an autocratic federal executive that increasingly interprets it in bad faith.

[0] sorry fascism-cheerleaders - without uniforms, legal documentation of their authority, accountability to bystanders, and duly-issued arrest warrants, this is what they are.

[fzeroracer]

The speed with which other Americans went from 'we need guns to protect ourselves from the feds trampling over our rights' to 'federal agents bagging someone with zero identification or justification is OK actually' really does go to show how much of that was bluster. It's obvious to me that if federal agents weren't concerned with backlash for obviously illegal actions they would properly present themselves.

[potato3732842]

Any agent of the state. If I were King(TM) it wouldn't even be possible to call in an anonymous tip to the most mundane of local government offices. Sure a few people would get some retribution initially but eventually it'd result in better alignment between the interests of the state and people. Anything not worth doing fully above the table isn't worth doing.

[immibis]

There's no evidence they were federal agents. Personally, I think they were Tren de Aragua.

[incomingpain]

They arent.

They need probable cause to arrest just like any other law enforcement. If they just arrest you because you're annoying or fake charges. You can sue them for deprivation of rights.

[sQL_inject]

As a legal immigrant who waited years to get my citizenship let's adjust some words here:

"It's insane illegal immigrants are allowed to roam around without ID and commit theft by subsisting on the programs legal immigrants pay for."

[peteyPete]

Go forth and arrest 3000 people a day, says Trump.. I assume performance is tied to that 40k bonus they're supposed to be getting under the big beautiful bullshit bill? Are they being paid a performance bonus? An incentive to put anyone in cuffs if they don't care about how its done. History will not be kind to those amoebas.

[kjkjadksj]

Won’t be the last. Wasn’t it last week we saw Sen. Padilla held to the floor by federal agents for asking questions?

[rolph]

[actual] Brad Lander Detained by Masked Federal Agents Inside Immigration Court

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/17/brad-lander-arrest-ice-im...

[Juliate]

There's a thing I don't get, as a non-USAmerican.

If someone unidentified, masked, showing no warrant, no legal justification of anything, kidnaps/attempts to kidnap someone, how are (organised) citizens not in their legitimate right to retaliate, according to what their local state allows them to?

Similarly, why/how are the law enforcement units not taking side against those kidnapping?

I mean, in my country, this would obviously call for immediate intervention of the police, but maybe that's because I'm still in a country where administrative enforcement is still ultimately under the control of the judiciary branch.

[nemomarx]

The cops personally agree with them, and so wouldn't intervene in any case.

I do think there's precedent that it's self defense to fire on an unidentified stranger who knocks on your door or tries to arrest you without showing ID, but you need to make it to court to press that defense and I can't say it's a great strategy for that reason

[metalcrow]

In theory, they are within their rights to retaliate. If an unknown person tried to kidnap you and doesn't present any form of ID, you have a very very strong case of self defense and genuine threat, and that would likely (IANAL) hold up in court if you ended up shooting them. It ended up holding up for Randy Weaver! You would want to surrender immediately upon being shown some ID, of course, but you could get away with it.

As for why law enforcement isn't taking sides, it's because doing so would basically be the start of a state succession attempt, and would bring federal agents in to take over the state. Some states have claimed they are willing to do that in certain situations (Alaska has said in the past it will use state troopers against government if they try to enact certain gun control laws), but no one is willing to go there yet. The best they can do now is categorically refuse to assist the feds.

[ars]

The article does not support the current HN title, not to mention that changing the title is against HN rules. Stick with the article title which is: "Brad Lander Detained by Masked Federal Agents Inside Immigration Court".

[potato3732842]

The entire framing of this article fact that we don't even know the name of whoever he was trying to protect tells you a lot.

Clearly we're not meant to be upset that fed-cops can behave this way generally, we're meant to be upset that they dared treat another agent of the state, a more equal animal, the way they'd treat a common peasant who got similarly uppity. Caring about these generalities is outside our lane.

[sjsdaiuasgdia]

> we're meant to be upset that they dared treat another agent of the state,

I'm upset because a US citizen was arrested for asking a reasonable question to some government officials before complying with the government officials.

[woodruffw]

I don't think that's the point of the article -- I suspect it's more that the average New Yorker reading this NYC news site already knows who Brad Lander is.

(You can also easily imagine why it wouldn't be ideal to publish the name of someone who is actively being harassed by masked thugs.)

[RIMR]

>that we don't even know the name of whoever he was trying to protect

YOU may not know the man's name, but people who read at least the first four paragraphs of this article will know that his name is Edgardo.

[mindslight]

News is written for lowest common denominator, appealing to emotional narratives. [More] news at 11. Stop trying to point to the media's hypocrisy as if it justifies rejecting the overall message. I don't like that elected officials are of a higher class either, but the plain fact is they are. We need to work with this to point out how out of control this administration is.

Sometimes, criticism is poised to cause reform. Currently, it's poised to support the fascist takeover in progress. Having to circle the wagons sucks as it further empowers the authoritarians on our side, but at this point it is what it is - traditional American governance (with all of its warts and flaws) versus autocratic fascism red in tooth and claw.

[threatofrain]

This is Trump attacking Democratic strongholds by arresting their leaders.

[jimt1234]

> "I know I will get due process and that my rights will be protected," Lander said.

Huh? Has he been sleeping under a rock for the last six months?

[NickC25]

Just dumb. ICE are out of control. I wonder why...

[amanaplanacanal]

Nah, they are completely in the control of Stephen Miller. This is the way he wants it.

[MasihMinawal]

politics digivolves to ...

... politics everywhere

[sjsdaiuasgdia]

Call your elected representatives. Attend a protest. Make noise. Above all else, protect your family, friends, and neighbors.

We do not have to sit back and let this happen.

[jbm]

> Call your elected representatives

I have never seen this work for something this politicized.

[nemomarx]

they did just shoot two elected representatives so I think we're a little beyond protests working

[bigyabai]

My elected representative gets (credible) death threats if they resist executive monarchy.