June 10 (UPI) — Brad Lander, former New York City comptroller, appeared in a Manhattan court Wednesday after his arrest last year at 26 Federal Plaza, the site of the city’s major immigration court.
Police arrested Lander on Sept. 18 during his attempt, with other officials, to inspect holding rooms for detained immigrants. Police also arrested about 10 other officials, The Guardian reported.
Lander said that he pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges so he could question Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations under oath, WABC-TV reported.
“Someone for the past year has been unreasonably obstructing the usual use of 26 Federal Plaza as an immigration court hearing, but the guilty party is ICE, the guilty party is not us,” Lander said.
Lander was ticketed on a violation for allegedly blocking an elevator bank on the 10th floor of the building. He testified Wednesday that he was there in his role as comptroller and that there were concerns that the holding rooms — usually used for much shorter periods of time — were crowded and unsafe, The Guardian reported. When the officials were not allowed to inspect the rooms, they sat down to wait.
The Guardian said that the trial unfolded “slightlysurreally — with an emphasis on the detail of alleged elevator blocking.”
“Were you trying to block the elevator?” asked Deidre von Dornum, Lander’s attorney.
“No,” Lander said, saying that the officials were there to inspect the rooms. “Our purpose was not to block the elevators.”
He said the elevator near him “did not ding, or open, during that time.”
Prosecutor Arial Cohen said Lander ignored multiple warnings to move.
Michael Bass, another attorney for Lander, said the comptroller was “concerned for the safety of his constituents.”
“Arrest is the bludgeon of suppression, and this case is yet another example of the administration’s suppression of political dissent,” Bass said.
Lander is running for the congressional seat held by incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman.