XPost: alt.politics.immigration, alt.politics.usa.republican, talk.politics.guns
XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism

New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested
at Manhattan�s immigration court Tuesday, becoming the latest elected
official to be detained or forcibly removed from immigration-related proceedings amid the Trump administration�s sweeping deportation efforts.

At least four other elected officials have recently faced similar confrontations with law enforcement. Here�s what we know.

Brad Lander
Lander had been monitoring immigration court activity over the past few
weeks and escorting asylum seekers as they exited their court appointments
in Manhattan. Tuesday�s occurrence was no exception, he told CNN.

Multiple videos showed the New York politician standing next to a man and locking arms with him as federal officers approached. The officers asked
Lander to step aside to arrest the man, and when he and other bystanders
tried to block the arrest, a scuffle broke out between them.

�Anyone can see from the video that I posed no danger to anyone,� Lander
told CNN�s Laura Coates following his release Tuesday.

�You don�t have a judicial warrant,� Lander told officers who attempted to arrest the man, according to videos.

The videos showed Lander holding onto the man as officers struggled and ultimately moved in to arrest him. At one point, an officer puts his arm
up to Lander�s neck, shoving him against a wall and placing him in
handcuffs.

As he was placed in handcuffs, Lander could be heard telling federal
officers: �You don�t have the authority to arrest US citizens, I�m not obstructing. I�m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.�

Several directives the Department of Homeland Security issued since
January allow ICE officers or agents to conduct immigration enforcement
actions in or near courthouses when they have �credible information�
targeted aliens will be at certain locations, including public and non-
public areas in court buildings. Court hallways are considered public
spaces where authorities would not need a warrant to make arrests.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, accused
Lander on Fox News of �assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer,� while he tried to escort the man.

Lander, following his release, told CNN migrants were being �stripped� of
their due process rights, often appearing in court without legal
representation and with limited understanding that they would be subject
to arrest after their court hearing even when their cases are dismissed.

�I�m gonna sleep in my bed tonight, safe with my family,� Lander said to reporters and a crowd of supporters Tuesday. �I�m grateful to hear that
the charges are not being brought, but if they are, I�ve got a lawyer. I
don�t have to worry about my due process rights.�

Alex Padilla
US Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcefully removed from a news
conference in Los Angeles last week and coerced to the ground after
attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question.

Padilla, California�s first Latino elected to the US Senate, interrupted
Noem as she was giving remarks at the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles on
the administration�s response to the anti-ICE protests in the city. He was quickly removed from the room, brought to the ground by law enforcement,
and placed in handcuffs during the rapidly unfolding incident.

�I was there peacefully,� Padilla said in his first public remarks after
the incident. �At one point I had a question, and so I began to ask a
question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was
forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.�

Noem said the US Secret Service �thought he was an attacker and officers
acted appropriately,� despite videos showing the senator identifying
himself as officers grabbed him and pushed him toward a door. �I wish that
he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he
was.�

The pair, Noem said, later met and had a �great conversation� and
exchanged phone numbers. �Sat down, talked for 10, 15 minutes about
operations in LA, some activities of the Department of Homeland Security,
and so I thought it was very productive,� she told reporters.

Padilla later urged people protesting to do so peacefully.

Ras Baraka
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested after attempting to join three
members of New Jersey�s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in entering an immigration detention facility in Newark on May 9.

He was charged with trespassing, which was later dropped.

His arrest took place after a heated argument broke out when federal
officials blocked his entry, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with
the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. The incident continued
after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.

Baraka was released hours after the episode and, after stepping out of an
SUV with flashing emergency lights, told waiting supporters: �The reality
is this: I didn�t do anything wrong.�

�All of us here, every last one of us, I don�t care what background you
come from, what nationality, what language you speak,� Baraka said, �at
some point we have to stop these people from causing division between us.�

Baraka, a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil
Murphy, has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over its
breakdown on immigration. He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that
it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.

LaMonica McIver
Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted last week on federal charges alleging she impeded and interfered with immigration officers outside the
same New Jersey detention center Baraka got in trouble.

A nearly two-minute clip released by the Department of Homeland Security
shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before
Baraka�s arrest on the street side of the fence, where other people had
been protesting.

She and uniformed officials went through the gate and joined others
shouting that they should circle the mayor.

The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers.
At one point, her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive-green uniform emblazoned with
the word �Police� on it. It isn�t clear from police bodycam footage
whether that contact was intentional, incidental, or a result of jostling
in the chaotic scene.

In a complaint filed by acting US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba,
McIver was charged with two assault charges stemming from the May 9 visit
to Newark�s Delaney Hall.

McIver disputed the allegations as baseless and defended her presence at
the facility as part of her authorized role as a member of Congress. Her lawyer, former US Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, said in a
statement that they would challenge the allegations �head-on� in court.

Hannah Dugan
Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in April and charged for
obstruction and concealing an individual from arrest, after she allegedly helped a defendant in her courtroom to evade immigration officials
stationed to arrest him.

A criminal affidavit states Dugan �became visibly angry, commented that
the situation was �absurd,� left the bench, and entered chambers,� after learning the plainclothes agents were in the courthouse.

Witnesses said she confronted the federal agents in a public hallway, repeatedly demanded they leave and said they needed a different kind of
warrant to make the arrest, according to court documents. She reportedly
also involved the courthouse�s chief judge in the matter.

In a ruling issued in late April, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Dugan
would be �temporarily prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit
court judge� while her case moves through the legal system, according to
court records.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported when Ras Baraka was released from custody. He was released hours after his arrest.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/18/us/elected-officials-confronted- immigration-enforcement-hnk

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)