Do We Really Need Kathy Hochul Weighing In on Brad Lander's Arrest?

Lander's arrest was quite the scene, as he interfered with the arrest of an illegal immigrant whom he was escorting to court, demanding to see the warrant, indicating that that is when he would let go, ranting and raving about how these agents "do not have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens." He was temporarily taken into federal custody from there. 

🚨BREAKING: New York City Mayoral candidate Brad Lander just got ARRESTED by ICE officers after he tried physically disrupting immigration enforcement operations.

FAFO! pic.twitter.com/vrclfWkXup

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 17, 2025

After he was released, Lander spoke to the press, where he once more emphasized his obsession with wanting to see a warrant.

Lander spoke about providing "help" from New York City and New York State to help people from "being separated or detained." As Lander explained it, there was someone who "we just tried to walk out of the building," as he referenced "I think you saw the video." What people saw, and heard, was Lander's demands of federal officers. "All I tried to do was just hold [his] arm and ask the ICE agents, 'do you have a warrant?'" He lamented that they would not show a warrant, which is when he himself also made clear that he would let go of his arm if the agents provided a warrant. 

🚨NEW—Brad Lander speaks to the press after being released from federal custody:

"We just tried to walk out of the building. I think you saw the video. All I tried to do was just hold [his] arm and ask the ICE agents, 'do you have a warrant?'"

"You saw what happened." pic.twitter.com/m7K8aqwCgZ

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 17, 2025

He tried to milk the situation even further by speaking about a "tradition of accompaniment, of trying to bear witness, of trying to walk peacefully with someone of trying to make sure that the rules are followed."

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Lander did not look to following the rules himself, though, hence him being temporarily detained.

🚨NEW — Mayoral candidate Brad Lander says he "just engaged in that tradition of accompaniment, of trying to bear witness, of trying to walk peacefully with someone." pic.twitter.com/h3npQdK5Qx

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 17, 2025

Hochul herself also milked a media appearance to weigh in. In addition to picking Lander up from where he was being temporarily detained, with Lander's wife also with them, the governor announced that any charges had been dropped. 

"The video is shocking," Hochul pointed out, as she insisted she had to come down "immediately" to check on Lander and his whereabouts and "do what I could to intervene." That's when the governor announced that, "to my knowledge, the charges, there are no charges, the charges have been dropped, he walks out of there a free man," as those present applauded. 

It's worth reminding that both Lander and Hochul have posted over X about how "No one is above the law." That appears to have gone out the window, though, when Democrats and/or champions of Democratic causes are detained for wrongdoing, as we also saw in late April when Judge Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee judge was arrested after she allegedly hid an illegal immigrant in her courthouse. Footage has since been released, and it doesn't look too good for Dugan. 

This didn’t age well.

Yes, that is New York Governor Kathy Hochul getting New York City Comptroller & Mayoral Candidate, Brad Lander, out after getting detained by ICE.

I thought “No one is above the law”.

Right, Brad?!? pic.twitter.com/Y6PVfPQrPo

— Southern FFA Family (@FFAFamily) June 18, 2025

BREAKING: Democrat NY Governor Kathy Hochul admits she had all charges dropped against Comptroller Brad Lander following his arrest today for assaulting ICE Agents.

This gives Leftists a green light to attack ICE. pic.twitter.com/hwrrBPaTJJ

— Dapper Detective (@Dapper_Det) June 17, 2025

Hochul also spoke to the press about Lander being temporarily detained, using expletive language in the process, so there's a language warning involved. Just as many mocked Lander for his face while getting detained, many chimed in over X to do the same with the governor.

"Do you want to know what I really think?" Hochul asked a reporter, who indicated that she did. "It's bulls**t," she said about the incident. "How dare they take an elected official, who's been going down there for weeks, to escort people who are afraid to walk into a courthouse in the United States of America because despite them having legal status and following the rules and making their appointments, that they don't know what's going to happen to them," she angrily continued. 

"So Brad Lander has stepped up, to be a guiding help for them. And this is what happens to him?! What the hell is happening to this country?! I just left Little Haiti. People are being traumatized. Small businesses. People walking down the street. When I was there in August, the streets were mobbed. People walking down the sidewalk, there were vendors everywhere," Hochul continued. Last August, though, we didn't have a presidential administration willing to enforce immigration law. "The traffic was crowded. Today, there was silence. People are living in fear," she stressed to continue to lament the situation under the second Trump administration. Hochul, pounding the podium for emphasis, also lamented about the change in temporary protective status (TPS) from the Biden-Harris administration to this one, as she complained about "legal status" being "literally ripped away" from people.

NY Gov Kathy Hochul decided to do a press conference even though one of her eyebrows didn't consent!

What happened to her face? (Possibly wrong answers mostly, please) pic.twitter.com/EunqYTkNyA

— Kyle Seraphin (@KyleSeraphin) June 18, 2025

Hochul also appeared on MSNBC's "Inside With Jen Psaki," and she herself posted a clip from her official account over X. The chyron highlighted how the governor called the arrest "bulls**t." 

The governor lamented how people attending such hearings "are sitting ducks" and "are captured." She got even more dramatic from there, as she claimed that "this is beyond the pale and we have to stand up and call it out for what it is and say 'we are a better country than this!'" 

People who follow the law, play by the rules, and work to get legal status are being targeted.

That’s beyond the pale. pic.twitter.com/bbCvvfeKpo

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) June 18, 2025

It was with Lander beside her that Hochul also announced she will be rolling out taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants in New York City, as Guy will be covering. Among those who have certainly taken notice of such remarks include Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Lawler, who have both been exploring a gubernatorial run for 2026 when Hochul is up for reelection. 

Lander is running in the crowded Democratic primary, which appears to be a race between former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. With New York City using rank choice voting, Lander is the final candidate to be eliminated before it's between Cuomo and Mamdani, according to a Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey from late last month. An aggregate of polls, according to The New York Times, consistently shows Lander in a distant third. 

Not only is Lander running in this crowded primary, but Hochul is up for reelection in 2026. As we've covered plenty since last December, she's not where she wants to be in the polls, especially when it comes to New York registered voters wanting someone new, how she's one of the least popular governors in the country, and is facing a primary challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado. 

🚨Kathy Hochul: I'm giving $50 million to illegal aliens to get them lawyers to prevent their deportation. pic.twitter.com/bWMVyTazKk

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 18, 2025