NY comptroller Brad Lander demanded a ‘judicial warrant’ in courthouse. Do ICE agents need that?

Plain clothes immigration officers arrested New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander at an immigration court building June 17 as he tried to escort an immigrant after a hearing. Lander, who linked arms with the immigrant, repeatedly demanded to see a judicial warrant for the man’s arrest.

"I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant," Lander said as agents tried to physically separate Lander from the immigrant.

After Lander asked multiple times, one agent waved a piece of paper. "I have it in my hand right here," he said. Eventually, the agents forcefully separated Lander from the man, whom Lander later identified as Edgardo. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pinned Lander to a wall and handcuffed him.

"You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens," Lander said. 

"You’re obstructing," an agent responded.

"I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant," Lander said before being taken into an elevator.

Lander remained in custody for a few hours before being released; the Homeland Security Department said Lander had been arrested "for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer." A video of the confrontation did not show Lander striking an officer. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters at the scene that, to her knowledge, charges against Lander had been dropped. The U.S. attorney’s office said it was investigating the events and would decide whether to pursue charges, The Associated Press reported June 17. 

Lander’s arrest and high-profile cases of people being detained by ICE agents on the street have raised questions about whether ICE agents need a warrant to arrest immigrants in public. They don’t.  

However, agents are generally required to have an administrative warrant, which, unlike a judicial warrant, doesn’t need to be signed by a judge. Administrative warrants can be signed by immigration officials.

Here are answers to questions prompted by Lander’s arrest.

Why is ICE detaining people after court hearings?

For weeks, the Trump administration has been detaining people at immigration courts whose cases have been dismissed and placing them in expedited removal — a fast-track deportation that allows for deportations without going before an immigration judge. 

Dismissing immigration cases isn’t a new practice and has generally been used to reduce the backlog of millions of cases in the immigration court system. When a case is dismissed a person is neither awarded a protection from deportation such as asylum nor ordered deported. Under past administrations, case dismissals signaled that the government wasn’t prioritizing that case for deportation.

However, under Trump’s administration, the practice is used to speed up deportations. ICE agents wait outside immigration courtrooms to immediately detain people whose cases are dismissed. Immigrants who have been in the U.S. for fewer than two years, are placed in expedited removal.

When do ICE agents need a warrant to arrest immigrants?

A judicial warrant is a legal order authorizing law enforcement’s search, seizure or arrest on private property. Judicial warrants are signed by a judge. 

Immigration agents also use administrative warrants, which carry lower legal weight. Administrative warrants are signed by federal agents such as immigration judges or officers. These warrants allow ICE agents to arrest someone in public places. However, they don’t give officers the right to enter private property. 

Although ICE agents are required to have a judicial warrant to enter a person’s home, they are not required to have a judicial warrant to arrest someone in public spaces, such as the immigration court building. 

"Lander is incorrect that a judicial warrant is required," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an immigrant-rights advocacy group, said on X.

An administrative warrant isn’t always required to arrest someone in public. According to immigration law, agents can arrest an immigrant without a warrant if they have "reason to believe" the immigrant is in the U.S. without authorization and "is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest."

Can ICE agents arrest U.S. citizens?

ICE agents generally can’t arrest U.S. citizens, because they aren’t committing a civil immigration violation. However, an agent may arrest a U.S. citizen on the grounds that they believe the person is in the U.S. illegally. The person would be released after showing proof of citizenship. 

However, Lander wasn’t arrested on immigration grounds, said Alexandra Lopez, a Chicago-based immigration attorney. The agent accused Lander of obstruction.

"In this scenario they are acting as federal law enforcement agents who are arresting a U.S. citizen on criminal, not immigration, grounds," Lopez said. "ICE claims they were detaining Comptroller Lander in their capacity as federal law enforcement agents, not immigration enforcement agents."

According to U.S. law, immigration agents can arrest people "for any offense against the United States, if the offense is committed in the officer's or employee's presence."