MAGestapo

Brad Lander in handcuffs. But is it fair, accurate, and wise to compare ICE to the Gestapo? (Yes.)

Brad Lander is from St. Louis, Missouri. He became a community organizer for affordable housing in Brooklyn in 1993. He was was elected City Comptroller by the people of New York City in 2022. He is now running for mayor of New York City.

Today, June 17, Lander was assaulted and kidnapped in a federal courthouse by men in tactical gear, several of them masked. A thicket of phones filmed the event.

The men showed neither badges nor warrants. They cited no authority. One of them said “obstruction” but gave no formal charge. One of them wore a T-shirt that said, in Latin, “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Lander asked for a judicial warrant but his requests were ignored.

Earlier this week, Wayne Ivey, a Florida sheriff, told “If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”

The target of ICE’s violence has grown. They’re not just attacking undocumented immigrants who commit criminal offenses. Not just undocumented immigrants who have committed civil offenses. It’s now people who protest ICE, as well as people who stand with immigrants of any status.

Earlier this week, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey told anti-ICE protestors that, if they got violent, “We will be notifying your family where to collect your remains because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”

While being shoved into a wall and handcuffed, Lander calmly and correctly repeated, “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens.” They handcuffed him anyway.

Lander is in ICE custody. (Update at 5:00 pm, June 17: He’s been released without charges.)