Democrats defend another candidate handcuffed for ICE protest

Over the last month, four elected Democrats have been arrested, publicly handcuffed, or charged with obstructing law enforcement — incidents that some in their party have described as “tyranny.”

First was Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s detention at an ICE facility in May, and New York Rep. LaMonica McIver’s attempts to stop agents from taking him in, which led to McIver’s own federal charges. Then, this month, law enforcement officials yanked Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., from a press conference after he tried to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question on anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

“Throughout this country’s history we’ve had conflict. We’ve had tumult. But we’ve never had a tyrant as a commander-in-chief,” Padilla said in a Tuesday floor speech, before joining Schumer at the Senate Democrats’ weekly press conference.

The Lander incident, days out from an election and with early voting underway, dominated coverage of the race, as every other candidate defended him — and as they condemned the Trump administration for deporting migrants who’ve shown up to court for immigration hearings. Lander had been walking those migrants in and out of the building for weeks, drawing praise from his party.

“Comptroller Brad Lander was doing absolutely nothing wrong when he was illegally detained,” said former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has led in every public primary poll.

“He showed us what leadership can look like,” said New York state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who trails Cuomo and has urged voters to mutually rank him and Lander first or second on their ballots. (After Baraka’s arrest, both Lander and Mamdani rallied at the ICE center where he had been protesting.)

“We’re also concerned about those that are walking out of this courthouse, taken away from their families,” Hochul said, standing next to Lander, as she announced $50 million in state legal aid for migrants.

The Trump administration has defended every interaction between law enforcement and Democrats, and dismissed Padilla’s action in Los Angeles as an “immature, theater-kid stunt.” Republicans have taken the same approach, scoffing when Democrats say that the treatment of elected officials should worry anybody else.

“No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Lander’s arrest.

That phrase — “no one is above the law” — has become a popular GOP response to Democrats’ arrests. It’s become a way for the party to attack the opposition’s behavior and remind Democrats of how they endorsed prosecutions of Trump over campaign finance violations and his attempt to subvert the 2020 election.

After charging McIver last month, New Jersey US Attorney Alina Habba said that “no one is above the law, politicians or otherwise.” After Padilla’s arrest, and after Democrats shared images and video of it in a House Oversight hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told reporters that the senator looked “aggressive” on camera, and that “no one is above the law.”

The McIver incident, which Democrats may have thought could provoke backlash to Trump, set the tone.All Democrats defended McIver, and Baraka’s opponents in the June 10 gubernatorial primary defended him. Jack Ciattarelli, who won the GOP’s nomination with support from Trump, said that the Democrats were defending lawlessness.

“Let me remind you about one ‘right’ that NOBODY has — let alone a Member of Congress — and that’s the right to assault a law enforcement officer who was simply trying to do their job,” Ciattarelli wrote on X, in response to Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who defeated Baraka in the primary.

(On Tuesday, Sherrill went after Ciattarelli for saying that a governor should “work in partnership with the president,” when asked what he’d do if Trump violated the Constitution.)

In New York, Republicans rolled their eyes at Lander and his party. City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino shared a post from a parody account, “Brad Pander,” and said he’d been “obstructing federal officers.” The New York Young Republicans Club stamped a message on a photo of Lander being detained: “No One is Above the Law, Including Brad Lander.”

I wrote last week about Democrats embracing mass and individual protests while Republicans continue to defend the actions of law enforcement. The Lander arrest was the strongest case study yet: After being released, Lander even criticized Andrew Cuomo for merely putting out a statement instead of rallying for him in person.

The Democratic position, in all of these stories, is that the Trump administration is violating the civil rights of migrants when ICE agents, often masked, arrest them in safe-seeming places like courthouses. And they are getting absolutely no backup from Republicans, who are not the main audiences for protests and civil disobedience but who these direct actions are designed to shame.

“Everyone responsible for this illegitimate abuse of power is going to be held accountable for their actions,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., after the Baraka and McIver arrests.

Who, exactly, is going to hold them accountable? For what actions? Republicans aren’t worried about that at all, and like any contrast that puts them on the side of law enforcement, no matter who is being cuffed.