Brad Lander stands trial over elevator-blocking arrest at New York City ICE facility

MANHATTAN (CN) — Congressional candidate Brad Lander stood trial Wednesday over a ticket he picked up last September, when he was arrested while trying to inspect immigrant holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

The New York City Democrat, formerly the city’s comptroller and candidate for mayor in 2024, took the unusual step of requesting a trial on the violation, for which he faces no jail time. Lander said he hoped to use the proceedings to gain information on ICE operations in New York City via discovery and shed a light on their controversial immigration enforcement efforts.

The crime he’s accused of is so low-level that he was not entitled to a trial by jury. Instead, a federal magistrate judge will issue a verdict Thursday morning.

Lander’s team argued the case still has big implications.

“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 during openings. “Arrest is the bludgeon of suppression, and this case is yet another example of the [Trump] administration’s suppression of political dissent.”

Prosecutors acknowledged the scope of the case is narrow in nature. According to his ticket, Lander illegally “blocked elevator banks” while he sat on the floor of 26 Federal Plaza to protest ICE.

“Today’s trial is for the court to decide a narrow issue: whether on Sept. 18, 2025, Bradford Lander unreasonably obstructed the usual use of elevators and the elevator lobby of the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Cohen told the court.

Video captured from the incident that day shows Lander and other elected officials seated on the floor of the federal building, surrounding a banner that read “NYers against ICE.” Lander and the others chanted, “We shall not be moved,” until he and several others, including state senators and assembly members, were arrested.

Lander’s legal team countered that no one tried to enter or exit the elevator behind him while he was seated on the floor. If they did, he would have moved, his lawyers claimed.

“Mr. Lander did not block an elevator on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza,” Bass said. “He was the New York City comptroller then, and he was concerned for the safety of his constituents.”

State Senator Julia Salazar, one of the lawmakers arrested Sept. 18 alongside Lander, testified for the defense that she and Lander were not trying to block the elevators at all. From where Lander was sitting, someone could have walked around him to access the elevators, Salazar said.

Testifying in his own defense Wednesday, Lander insisted he wasn’t at 26 Federal Plaza that day to protest or cause problems — he was there in his capacity as an elected official to assess the conditions of the facility that have been scrutinized by its inmates.

“We made clear that is what we were there for, and we weren’t going to leave until they allowed us back,” Lander said on the witness stand. “Our purpose was to wait until we were allowed to inspect the 10th floor. Our goal was not to block the elevators or restrict anyone’s movement.”

“Of course I would have moved,” Lander added when asked if he would have accommodated someone entering or exiting the elevator.

Prosecutors called just two witnesses during the daylong bench trial. The first was John Melecio, the field office manager for 26 Federal Plaza, who testified that it would be “difficult” for someone to exit the elevators if they were blocking them. The other was Clifford Steichen, a senior inspector at the Federal Protective Service, who was the one who zip-tied Lander’s wrists and arrested him.

Lander didn’t get access to the immigrant holding rooms that day. But details of the facility’s conditions were made public last month at another federal bench trial, which revealed that ICE officials texted about the “gross” health concerns that brewed in the overcrowded makeshift jail.

He had been arrested at 26 Federal Plaza on another occasion months prior, when he tried to escort a man out of immigration court through a crowd of ICE agents. Lander faced no charges for that incident and was released that day.

A bubbly Lander spoke outside of the courthouse after the roughly six-hour trial, where he told reporters his legal team “demolished” the prosecutors’ case “step by step by step.”

Lander is currently running in a contentious primary to unseat Democratic foe Dan Goldman, who represents New York’s 10th Congressional District. Leading the incumbent in most polls, Lander is flanking Goldman from the left by honing in on his support for Israel and taking of corporate PAC donations.

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