{"id":263307,"date":"2026-06-11T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263307\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:07:08","slug":"brad-lander-found-not-guilty-in-nyc-immigration-court-protest-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263307\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Lander found not guilty in NYC immigration court protest trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2212 Brad Lander<\/a>, a former New York City comptroller and current congressional candidate, was acquitted on a criminal charge related to his arrest while protesting immigrant detention conditions<\/a>, his lawyers said on June 11.<\/p>\n

A federal magistrate judge found Lander, 56, not guilty of blocking an elevator entrance when he was arrested in September trying to advocate for inspection of immigrant detention conditions inside a Manhattan federal building, Lander and his lawyers told reporters. Lander was joined in the Sept. 18 protest by other elected officials<\/a> who had demonstrated against what they said were unsafe detainee conditions in a temporary holding area in 26 Federal Plaza.<\/p>\n

“What I got here is what the rule of law is supposed to look like,” Lander, wearing a New York Knicks cap<\/a> and a suit, said outside the federal district court building in Manhattan on June 11. “What is happening in those buildings is a perversion of the rule of law.”<\/p>\n

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The federal building became a focal point of chaotic scenes<\/a> as federal officials have detained people attending immigration court hearings and routine check-ins with federal immigration officials. The building has also been used to house immigrant detainees once they were apprehended at their hearings or check-ins. A federal court ruling in May<\/a> blocked immigration agents from making arrests at immigration courts inside the building.<\/p>\n

NYC protest against treatment of detained immigrants leads to dozens of arrests<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

New York City Police Department officers detain a person during a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside U.S. immigration court in Manhattan on September 18, 2025.<\/p>\n

(David Dee Delgado, REUTERS)<\/p>\n

Tense protests have ensued inside and outside the building<\/a>, which have been met with forceful responses by federal officials and New York City police. Federal officials previously arrested Lander in June 2025<\/a> when he tried to escort a man out of immigration court.<\/p>\n

In December, Lander pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case went to a bench trial on June 10, and the judge returned a verdict a day later.<\/p>\n

Lander, a liberal Democrat, is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York<\/a>, who represents New York\u2019s 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan by running to Goldman\u2019s left. Polls show Lander leads Goldman, by double digits ahead of the June 23 Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

Lander is endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>. He and Lander had formed an alliance in the 2025 mayoral election<\/a> that proved key in securing a Mamdani win. Lander is among a slate of left-leaning candidates Mamdani has backed in New York City districts.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens in the primary, Lander said, he planned to continue showing up to the immigration court building.<\/p>\n

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at\u00a0emcuevas1@usatoday.com<\/a>\u00a0or on Signal at emcuevas.01.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brad Lander found not guilty in NYC immigration court protest trial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2212 Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller and current congressional candidate, was acquitted on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8069,3534,102088,45699,12242,9,1104,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-263307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-brad-lander","tag-federal-court","tag-federal-magistrate-judge","tag-federal-officials","tag-immigration-court","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}