NYC Comptroller Recounts Courthouse ICE Tactics in Manhattan as an 'Abduction Trap' for Immigrants

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander says routine immigration hearings at 26 Federal Plaza have evolved into what he calls an "abduction trap," alleging that masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are detaining immigrants immediately after they appear before judges.

In an opinion essay published by MSNBC, Lander wrote that the Manhattan building, long home to immigration courts, "isn't functioning as a courthouse. It's functioning as an abduction trap. And as an inhumane de facto jail." He said he has visited the facility "more than a dozen times" and has been arrested twice attempting to escort migrants or inspect holding cells.

According to Lander, immigrants who arrive as ordered for asylum hearings receive new dates—sometimes years in the future—before being seized outside the courtroom. "Right outside the courtroom, ICE agents lurk in the hallways," he wrote. "They cover their faces with masks to limit accountability. And they lay in wait to detain people as they leave their hearings."

He said the arrests occur without warrants, identification, or explanation, adding, "It feels more like kidnapping than like the rule of law."

Lander cited the case of Carlos Lopez Benitez, who attended a hearing on July 16 and received a follow-up date in 2029. "I witnessed masked ICE agents right outside the courtroom tear the 27-year-old from Paraguay out of his sister's arms and abduct him," he wrote. Lopez Benitez was later released after two weeks when advocates filed a habeas petition.

He said ICE agents "don't care" when asylum seekers attempt to show their court documentation, and described witnessing agents detain the wrong individual before "violently dragging him into a stairwell."

Lander said arrests have swept up "pregnant women. High school students. U.S. citizens. A 6-year-old," claiming the surge has "increased dramatically through the spring and summer." He accused agents of "shoving witnesses and ripping people out of the arms of their loved ones," recounting a pregnant woman asking whether her detained husband would be killed.

The comptroller's claims follow two high-profile arrests of his own at 26 Federal Plaza.

In June, federal agents detained Lander while he stood beside a migrant in a courthouse hallway. Video showed him repeatedly telling agents, "I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant." He was handcuffed and held for several hours before release. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said he was arrested "for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer," a characterization Lander denied.

Then in September, Lander and other officials were taken into custody after they attempted to inspect the facility's 10th-floor detention cells, days after a federal judge ordered improvements to address overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Officials said more than 70 people were arrested during the protests.

"We'll continue showing up to 26 Federal Plaza," Lander wrote on MSNBC, urging New Yorkers to join him. "We won't stop until they stop abducting our neighbors."