Brad Lander is used to getting arrested. In 2015, Lander was detained during a protest in support of striking car wash workers. Two years later, Lander participated in an act of civil disobedience supporting the raise of the minimum wage in New York.

Brad Lander, NYC comptroller and candidate for mayor, returned to observe federal immigration court just days after his ICE arrest​.

When Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, was arrested Tuesday by federal agents at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan, Lander said he had simply been trying to escort an immigrant whom agents wanted to detain.