Homeland Security police arrested 11 elected officials inside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Thursday after they demanded access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s holding area on the building’s 10th floor. The arrests, following an hour-long standoff, mark an alarming precedent: lawmakers in handcuffs for trying to oversee conditions in a facility already under a federal court order.
The group included 10 state lawmakers, all Democrats, along with city Comptroller Brad Lander:
Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller
Julia Salazar, State Senator
Gustavo Rivera, State Senator
Jabari Brisport, State Senator
Robert Carroll, Assembly Member
Emily Gallagher, Assembly Member
Jessica González-Rojas, Assembly Member
Marcela Mitaynes, Assembly Member
Steve Raga, Assembly Member
Tony Simone, Assembly Member
Claire Valdez, Assembly Member
The arrests came after the officials refused to leave the hallway outside the lockup, banging on locked doors and staging a sit-in with chants and songs. They were placed in zip ties, processed, and released within an hour with summonses for “unreasonably obstructing the usual use of entrances.” All must appear in federal court in November.
The push to enter the facility followed a federal judge’s ruling just a day earlier, which extended an injunction requiring ICE to improve conditions on the 10th floor. The order mandated at least 50 feet of personal space per detainee, three meals a day, clean bedding, and confidential access to lawyers. Testimonies from immigrants over the summer described being “treated like animals,” denied showers, packed in so tightly they had to sleep sitting up, and given little food or water.
Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas said she was there “for my neighbor Dino,” a beloved Queens restaurant worker who had recently been arrested by ICE. “I’m brokenhearted. This is just one of the many stories in my community,” she told reporters through tears. Assembly member Marcela Mitaynes added in Spanish: “I represent an immigrant community and they’re terrified. They’re not going out in the streets, they’re not taking their children to school. Our neighbors are disappearing. We cannot permit this to continue.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the demonstration as a publicity stunt. “Another day, another activist politician pulling a stunt in an attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees,” she wrote, accusing Lander of bringing “agitators and media” to obstruct law enforcement.
While members of Congress have explicit authority to conduct unannounced inspections of ICE detention sites, state and city lawmakers do not. That distinction allowed DHS to treat the local officials’ sit-in as an act of obstruction. But the decision to arrest them carries profound risks. Oversight is not optional, it is fundamental to democracy. Punishing lawmakers for attempting to ensure compliance with a court order shields ICE from accountability and normalizes impunity.
The danger here is not only about immigration policy. It is about whether oversight itself can be criminalized. Arresting lawmakers for trying to inspect a facility already cited by a federal judge undermines checks and balances. Today it is ICE. Tomorrow it could be any federal agency operating behind closed doors.
The arrests of these 11 officials should set off alarms for anyone concerned with democratic governance. If oversight becomes a crime, accountability disappears. That is a precedent the United States cannot afford to set.