Latest news with #BradLander
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brad Lander Managed His Arrest Just Fine. What He Saw in the Interrogation Room Broke Him.
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Brad Lander thought he was making another trip to Manhattan's immigration court on Tuesday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detentions and deportations of undocumented people in New York. Instead, the city's Democratic comptroller and mayoral contender was shoved against a wall by masked ICE agents, handcuffed, led through the same corridors where he'd been escorting immigrants only moments earlier, and detained for roughly five hours. Federal officials claimed he had 'assaulted' and 'impeded' their officers, though Lander was released without charges. Gov. Kathy Hochul sought to intervene and branded the episode 'bullshit.' New York Attorney General Tish James called it 'a shocking abuse of power.' Rival candidates Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo both condemned the arrest. With early voting for the Democratic primary opened, and more than 130,000 ballots already in, voters are now looking at images of a would-be mayor in zip ties. Barely 24 hours after walking out of 26 Federal Plaza, I called Lander to talk through the arrest, what exactly happened, and how the experience could reshape the last stage of his campaign. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Aymann Ismail: What were you doing inside 26 Federal Plaza on Tuesday? Brad Lander: So this was the third time I've done it. I've gone each of the last three weeks as a part of a friend of the court program organized by Immigrant ARC that asks people to come down and bear witness to immigration hearings and, in some cases, escort people out of the building. About three weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security changed their policy. They dismissed people's cases, stripped them of their asylum-seeker status, and subjected them to expedited removal. I've been able to escort five individuals or families out of the building without incident, and that felt great. But in this instance, following what's happened to Sen. Alex Padilla and to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and others, they decided to arrest me. It's a sign of Trump's creeping authoritarianism and of the threats to our democracy. Did the ICE agents give you any warning? Was there anything different about the case of yesterday? ICE agents mill around the elevator bank. When I came up in the elevator yesterday before I even got to the floor, as soon as the doors open, a group of ICE agents were holding someone that they were detaining. We knew this was a possibility in every case, and at least in my limited experience so far, the seven people that I've accompanied, you don't know whether they're going to come grab the person or not until you turn the corner into the elevator lobby. Walk me through what was happening in that exact moment when ICE agents grabbed you. At first, I had spent a minute talking to Edgardo [the man he was escorting] as another volunteer explained what was going on. I could see how scared he was, and I was just hoping I'd be able to walk him out of the building. Then when the ICE agent started surrounding us and grabbing him, I did what I had been trained to do. I asked to see the judicial warrant. It all moved pretty quickly from there. Reportedly an agent said before your arrest, 'You want me to arrest the comptroller?' I did not hear that. I know that's been reported. I had not heard that at the time. I was asking for the warrant, and one agent said, 'I have the warrant.' That led me to say, 'Well, can I see it?' Otherwise, as you can see on the video, there was kind of a melee. And volunteers are doing more of the talking, asking for badge numbers, asking for the warrant, asking on what authority they were arresting him. This is part of the problem. In an arrest done by uniformed officers in an appropriate way, they name the person and explain on what authority they are making an arrest. And none of that happened yesterday. What was happening in your mind in that exact moment? I was trying to stay focused on Edgardo. There's an important tradition of bearing witness, of nonviolent civic action, of saying, 'I am going to object when people's rights are being stripped away from them.' I was focused on that: Asking the questions about where the authority comes from, objecting to the due-process violations, insisting that the rule of law be followed. That was what was in my head. Homeland Security accused you of assaulting and impeding federal officers. What do you make of that accusation? The video making its way around the internet quite clearly shows that that was not the case. I only learned of that once I got out. I was surprised by it, yes, because it's so patently not what the video shows happened. What happened once you were detained? What kind of facility did they take you into? Were you detained with anybody else? What was that experience like? They brought me to just a room, like an interview room—imagine a Law & Order interview room—most of the time with one ICE police officer just sitting. I didn't have my phone. I was just sitting there for four hours. It's true that we're such creatures of our phones that four hours without one is notable. I was going over in my head what had happened. There were posters on the wall of the room, like, 'Wash your hands before you leave the bathroom,' except that the posters on the wall of this room said, 'Are you a parent who is detained and separated from your children?,' in both English and Spanish. It is horrifying that we have normalized family separation to the point that there's a standard bilingual poster for it on the walls of the interview room and detention rooms in federal immigration courthouses. And the information is not helpful. It's like, 'Here's a hotline number, good luck to you.' The fact that it's a standard enough situation that we are separating parents from their kids that we've designed a bilingual poster to put on the walls as though somehow that excuses behavior that is really torture—yeah, it is enraging. Gov. Kathy Hochul called the arrest 'bullshit.' Were you surprised by that? I was grateful that the governor came down and helped get me out, and even more grateful that she announced $50 million for legal services for people like Edgardo who are facing deportation without lawyers. I was honored to be there for him, but what would've been way better for him was having a lawyer who could actually assert his rights and file his appeal. This is not a small issue. Forty percent of New Yorkers are immigrants. Fifty percent live in mixed-status households, including a million children, and making sure that they can't have their rights ripped out from under them is something that the city and the state have to be doing. Eric Adams continues to bring shame to himself and our city by showing that he's on the side of Trump and the ICE agents. The New York Times reported ICE didn't legally need the warrant you said it did. Was there confusion there? I'm not an immigration attorney. I was asking questions that I had been trained to ask. It is good for individuals when ICE comes to ask to see a judicial warrant, but I also will say I'm not an immigration attorney, and whatever the situation turns out to be, it can't be acceptable that people did everything right, presented themselves at the border, had a hearing, came to their hearing, filed their asylum application, and then just because DHS says, 'Ah, we're going to dismiss the case,' all of a sudden have no rights at all and can be disappeared into detention and deported with no rights whatsoever. That's why I was just asking for some due process. You mentioned Sen. Alex Padilla was detained in Los Angeles under similar circumstances, and Mayor Ras Baraka in New Jersey, too. Do you see this as targeted toward Democratic politicians defending immigration rights? Attorney General Pam Bondi has said on the record that their intention is to quote-unquote 'liberate' Democratic cities from their elected officials. That is Orwellian speak for authoritarian domination to say the federal government is going to come arrest elected officials who are either asking questions as Sen. Padilla was, or trying to enforce their local laws as Ras Baraka was, or observing in a court and asking for a judicial warrant as I was. I think that Donald Trump is coming after our cities and our democracy, and I think it's an important moment for leaders to step up, which is why I was glad that Congress members Nadler and Goldman went down to observe in court today. I hope other elected officials will do it, too. I hope other people will sign up with Immigrant ARC to bear witness and be escorts themselves. They can make examples of Sen. Padilla and Mayor Baraka and me. But if Americans by the thousands, by the millions, show up as we did over the weekend at the No Kings march in peaceful, nonviolent witness, we can respond to this moment of crisis with a love of our democracy and what it means to be governed by the rule of law. That's what we got to do. If you become mayor, where will you draw the line between New York City's sanctuary policies and cooperating with federal law enforcement? Our sanctuary laws are clear and appropriate. If an individual has been convicted of a serious or violent defense, then the New York City sanctuary city laws instruct cooperation with ICE. In investigating a criminal activity, both local and federal government have a role to play, depending on the case and the scope and the charges. But where people have not been convicted of a serious or violent defense, our laws do not permit collaboration between New York City personnel or contractors and federal immigration agents. And I will not allow it. I won't allow ICE in our schools or our public hospitals or our shelters as necessary. I'll put my body on the line as I did yesterday. I want to provide more legal resources so that folks have attorneys to know what to do in their cases. If parent coordinators in schools can offer to families connections to community-based legal organizations, that'll help people come to court more ready so that somebody like Edgardo or Zed or Maria and Manuel or the other families that I've met and the thousands in court every day. New York City can help make sure they have lawyers if they're facing deportation proceedings, and get the information they need to make good choices. That's what we should be doing. The only way New York City can stand up for the values reflected by that statue in the harbor is if we're doing better to live up to them. We need to deliver affordable housing and safe neighborhoods and good streets and transportation to all New Yorkers, whether they are here since birth or here since breakfast. That's what I'm going to do as mayor.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYPD investigating car bomb threat against mayoral candidate Mamdani
Police in New York are investigating car bomb threats against Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, according to a Thursday release from his campaign. Mamdani said a repeat caller has been leaving 'alarming' voicemails. 'While Zohran does not own a car, the violent and specific language of what appears to be a repeat caller is alarming and we are taking every precaution,' Mamdani said in a statement sent to The Hill by his campaign. 'While this is a sad reality, it is not surprising after millions of dollars have been spent on dehumanizing, Islamophobic rhetoric designed to stoke division and hate. Violence and racism should have no place in our politics. Zohran remains focused on delivering a safe and affordable New York,' the statement added. The New York State Assembly member's reports of violent threats come after New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a fellow Democratic mayoral candidate, was arrested while leaving immigration court. It also follows a 'politically motivated' shooting involving two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota. 'This is an atrocious threat of political violence against Mr. Mamdani. It is unacceptable —I strongly condemn these threats and any others like them. This has no place in our politics or our society. Thankfully no one was harmed,' Andrew Cuomo, a Democratic candidate for mayor, wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X. 'This is a pivotal time in this country and we need to tone down the rhetoric and focus on the people's agenda,' he added. Mamdani and Cuomo had a notably heated moment during the June 12 candidate debate. The former slammed the latter for past misconduct and mispronouncing his name. 'I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records. And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuomo,' Mamdani said during the debate. 'The name is Mamdani, M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it,' he added. Cuomo and Mamdani are neck and neck in the polls, separated by 10 percentage points — 55 percent to 45 percent — according to a June survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. Jared Gans contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cuomo, Mamdani neck and neck in final NYC mayoral poll
New York Assembly member Zohran Mamdani has effectively drawn even with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor and surpasses him in the final round of a ranked-choice simulation, according to a new poll released Monday. In a final survey of the race from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, Cuomo led Mamdani 35 percent to 32 percent overall, within the poll's margin of error. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander came in at 13 percent, followed by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams at 8 percent and former Comptroller Scott Stringer at 3 percent. Four percent of voters were undecided. But the survey also allowed respondents to rank their top choices, as the primary uses ranked choice voting. In the first round, Cuomo led Mamdani 36 percent to 34 percent. In the eighth round of voting, once all the other candidates were eliminated, Mamdani came out on top, beating Cuomo 52 percent to 48 percent. The ranked choice system for New York City's mayoral primary allows voters to select their top five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate surpasses 50 percent in the first round of voting, the candidate in last place is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the other candidates according to how they ranked their other choices. The latest findings point to continued momentum for Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has emerged as the leading progressive choice in the Democratic race to succeed embattled Mayor Eric Adams (D), who is running as an independent. In the previous Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey, taken in May, Cuomo led Mamdani 35 percent to 23 percent. 'Over five months, Mamdani's support has surged from 1% to 32%, while Cuomo finishes near where he began,' said Spencer Kimball, Emerson College Polling's executive director. 'In the ranked-choice simulation, Mamdani gains 18 points compared to Cuomo's 12, putting him ahead in the final round for the first time in an Emerson poll.' The survey is the latest to suggest a close race as voters head to the polls Tuesday. A Marist poll released last week found Cuomo leading Mamdani in the seventh round of voting, 55 percent to 45 percent. Cuomo has been the clear favorite as Democrats look to oust Adams, who was the subject of a federal corruption case that was eventually dropped by the Justice Department, drawing accusations that the mayor had sought to curry favor with President Trump. A win by Cuomo this week would represent a stunning resurgence for the former governor, who resigned from his job as the Empire State's top executive in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations and a brewing scandal involving accusations that his administration concealed nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo has earned the backing of notable figures in the Democratic Party, most recently Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the influential Black Congressional Caucus member. And while Mamdani has emerged as the clear progressive favorite, scoring the endorsements of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), he has also drawn criticism from the establishment. Last week, The New York Times editorial board urged voters not to support Mamdani, despite its previous pledge not to endorse in local elections. The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey was conducted June 18-20 with a sample size of 833 likely voters and a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. The first round of ranked choice voting was conducted with a sample size of 800 likely voters and a margin of error of 3.4 percent. The final round was conducted with 729 voters and had a margin of error of 3.6 percent. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cuomo concedes to Mamdani in NYC mayor's primary
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) conceded Tuesday night to New York State assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, as the 33-year-old progressive candidate held a substantial lead with the race heading to a ranked-choice count. 'Tonight was not our night,' Cuomo told his supporters. 'Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani's night and he put together a great campaign, and he touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote.' 'He really ran a highly impactful campaign,' Cuomo added. 'I called him, I congratulated him.' Earlier Tuesday, Decision Desk HQ projected the race would head to a ranked-choice count as Mamdani held a solid lead over the former governor. The vote counting will continue even though Cuomo has conceded in the primary. 'Decision Desk HQ projects no candidate will reach the 50% plus threshold in the first round, sending the New York City Democratic Mayoral primary to Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV),' said Scott Tranter, DDHQ's director of data science. 'The City of New York will have their first release of the RCV votes next Tuesday, July 1st.' 'Zohran Mamdani will go into the RCV process as the favorite,' Tranter added. 'In addition to his current vote lead, he has been endorsed by third place finisher Brad Lander and can expect to pick up a substantial portion of Lander's supporters once their second choice votes are allocated in the RCV process.' Mamdani, a democratic socialist endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), stunned observers Tuesday night with his strong showing against the former governor. Most polls leading up to Election Day showed Cuomo leading, though not outright winning, in the first round. Other candidates in the crowded primary included longtime city officials like Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and former Comptroller Scott Stringer. New York City permits mail-in votes postmarked by primary day to be counted for a week after, so the subsequent rounds of ranked choice voting aren't likely to be released until next Tuesday, July 1. In New York City's ranked-choice system, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are reapportioned according to their voters' next preference. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority. The process in this primary will likely take multiple rounds for an official winner to be declared. Cuomo entered the primary in March in what he hoped would be a political comeback. He resigned from office in 2021 following allegations of sexual harassment from multiple women, which he denies, and criticism accusing him of intentionally undercounting the number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has maintained he was following federal guidance. Despite those controversies and having a relatively high number of voters viewing him unfavorably, he's consistently led in polls for months leading up to the primary. But Mamdani rallied younger and progressive voters to try to oppose Cuomo and organize those opposed to him behind his own campaign. He closed the gap in polling in recent weeks and even finished ahead in the final round of one independent public poll from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill. Should Mamdani ultimately be declared the winner, he'll be the favorite to take on embattled Mayor Eric Adams, who's running as an independent for reelection, along with GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden. But Cuomo and Mamdani may face each other again regardless of who wins the primary. Cuomo formed his own separate party line, called the Fight and Deliver Party, to run in the general election outside the Democratic Party. It was not immediately clear if Cuomo would vie for a run in the general election. 'The challenges we face are real, and they deserve real consideration,' Cuomo told his supporters. 'And I want to give some thought about the best way to help address them, the best way to help the party, but most of all, the best way to help the city, and that's what we'll be thinking about as we go forward.' Updated: 11 p.m. ET Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cuomo leads Mamdani by 14 points in survey ahead of NYC primary voting
New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo leads state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani by 14 points in the final round of ranked choice voting in a poll released just ahead of the city's much-anticipated primary. The survey from Yale Polling/YouGov, released Monday, shows Cuomo ahead in the first round of vote tabulating by 10 points over Mamdani — 38 percent to 28 percent. New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams came in third with 12 percent, followed by city Comptroller Brad Lander with 7 percent and former Comptroller Scott Stringer with 6 percent. All other candidates received 3 percent or less. The ranked choice simulation — when a candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to voters' next available preference — continues until only Cuomo and Mamdani remain in contention. The former governor won in the 10th round, 57 percent to 43 percent. The results show a brighter sign for Cuomo than those from the final survey of the primary race from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill also released Monday. In that poll, he led in the first round by just 3 points, within the margin of error, and Mamdani came out on top in the final round, about 52 percent to 48 percent, also within the margin of error. Cuomo has been the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for mayor for months, but Mamdani has closed the gap in recent weeks as he seeks to coalesce progressive opposition to the former Empire State governor's attempted political comeback. How close Mamdani is to successfully pulling it off depends on the survey. The latest Yale/YouGov poll shows Cuomo has the strongest support among Black voters, leading by 42 points, voters earning less than $50,000 per year, leading by 34 points, and voters without a college degree, leading by 44 points. Key to Mamdani's coalition are white voters, leading by 18 points, voters earning more than $100,000 per year, leading by 20 points, and voters with a college degree, leading by 14 points. Cuomo is also well ahead with voters 45 and older, while Mamdani leads among those under 45, the poll shows. The ex-governor's net favorability is slightly higher than the state lawmaker, though both candidates' favorability ratings are roughly in line with each other. Cuomo is viewed at least somewhat favorably by 54 percent and unfavorably by 40 percent, while Mamdani is viewed at least somewhat favorably by 45 percent and unfavorably by 35 percent. One additional X factor to the race may be the intense heat hitting the Northeast on Tuesday as voters head to the polls. Various candidates and New York stakeholders urged voters to cast their ballots early as forecasts predict temperatures could top 100 degrees in the city. The weather's effect, if any, on turnout remains to be seen. The Yale/YouGov poll was conducted June 17-22 among 645 registered New York City voters — including 416 who voted or plan to vote in the Democratic primary. The margin of error for the entire sample was 5 percentage points, while the margin of error for Democratic primary voters specifically was 6.7 percentage points. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
