Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander faced trial Wednesday in federal court on misdemeanor charges stemming from a September protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in lower Manhattan.
Lander was arrested alongside 75 others, including nearly a dozen elected officials, while attempting to inspect conditions at the ICE detention area housed in 26 Federal Plaza. The action followed a federal judge's ruling that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE must improve conditions for detained immigrants in the building.
Standing outside the courthouse before proceedings began, Lander maintained his innocence and framed the case as a question of where the real wrongdoing lies. "I pleaded not guilty because we were not guilty of any crime," he said. "The crime is what ICE is doing, and we have pursued our case to trial asking for more information."
Lander chose to proceed to trial rather than accept a plea deal, a decision he said would give him a platform to challenge the government's actions. In November, he explained his reasoning by pointing to what happened behind closed doors at the detention facility. "By requesting to proceed to trial, in the same way ICE and DHS can ask me what I was doing in the hallway, I will have the opportunity to question the officers about what they were doing on the tenth floor," he stated.
His legal team plans to call three witnesses. Lander used a social media statement Wednesday morning to sharpen the message: "The crime was not what we were doing at 26 Federal Plaza. The crime is what ICE is doing there."
The trial represents a second brushfire with federal law enforcement for Lander in less than a year. In June, while he was running for mayor, he was arrested at a federal courthouse in connection with an alleged incident involving law enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that Lander had been accused of assaulting an officer and impeding a federal agent. Lander denied laying hands on any law enforcement officer.
Since the September arrest, Lander has shifted his political ambitions to Congress, announcing a campaign for New York's 10th Congressional District. In recent weeks, he has maintained a public presence at local events, including a watch party in Brooklyn for the NBA Finals.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Lander is betting that a jury will see a principled advocate for immigrants rather than a politician grandstanding at the expense of public order, but the government's case may hinge on whether his presence at the facility crossed a legal line."
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