Former New York City Comptroller and NY-10 congressional candidate Brad Lander was found not guilty Thursday on a misdemeanor charge tied to his arrest last September at a federal immigration facility in lower Manhattan.
The development comes just days before early voting opens in the Democratic primary on Jun. 13, where he faces incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn).
Federal Magistrate Judge Henry Ricardo ruled the government had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, saying from the bench: “On these facts, the government has failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Lander was arrested alongside several other elected officials, including Senators Jabari Brisport (D-Brooklyn) and Jessica González-Rojas (D-Queens) and after sitting on the floor of the 10th-floor elevator lobby at 26 Federal Plaza, a building that houses US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices, an immigration court, and the FBI’s New York City field office.
The group was attempting to inspect immigrant holding rooms inside after a federal judge had ordered the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to improve conditions for immigrants held in the city.
“I feel genuinely moved today by the rule of law—by the excellent legal counsel I had, by the thoughtful consideration by the judge, and by the simple knowledge that I could enter and leave the court safely. It’s a blessing we don’t always appreciate, and one that is being utterly denied to our immigrant neighbors by Trump and ICE,” Lander said in a statement. “Whatever happens on June 23, I will keep showing up to protect our immigrant neighbors and insist that the rule of law apply to everyone.”
Prosecutors argued the case turned on a narrow question: whether Lander had unreasonably obstructed the usual use of the elevators and elevator lobby. Lander’s defense countered that no one attempted to enter or exit the elevator behind him while he was seated.
Lander testified in his own defense Wednesday that he never received a warning to move or was told he was obstructing anything before federal agents placed him in handcuffs.. “We were chanting, ‘We shall not be moved,’” he told PIXix11. “The idea is to say, ‘We’re here for our immigrant neighbors and we’re not going to stop showing up and defending their rights.’”
Lander had rejected a plea deal that would have resolved the charge within six months, opting instead to go to trial. “We understand that the stakes of this case might appear low; Mr. Lander is not facing jail time. But this case is critically important,” defense attorney Michael Bass said in his opening statement. “Arrest is the bludgeon of suppression, and this case is yet another example of the [Trump] administration’s suppression of political dissent.”
“The charge that they are making against me is that I unreasonably obstructed the usual use of 26 Federal Plaza,” Lander told amNewYork before the trial began Wednesday. “What’s very clear to me is this: someone for the last year has been unreasonably obstructing the usual use of 26 Federal Plaza as an immigration court—but the guilty party is ICE, not us.”
Early voting in the NY-10 Democratic primary begins Saturday, Jun. 13. Primary Day is Jun. 23.
A recent Emerson College poll showed Lander leading Goldman by 34 points, 57% to 23%, with 20% of voters undecided. Goldman has been endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, while Lander has the backing of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
