City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams on Tuesday urged migrants to skip out on their immigration court cases and go into hiding to avoid being “abducted” by federal agents.
Lander — a Democrat who was busted by the feds last month for interfering with a migrant’s arrest — and fellow Dem Williams called the Big Apple’s immigration courtrooms an “abduction trap.”
“These buildings have essentially ceased to be courthouses,” Lander told reporters of the Manhattan federal offices. “They are not places where judges are having hearings that are a meaningful part of the rule of law. These buildings are essentially abduction traps.
“Irrespective of what is going on inside the courtroom, people are on a list, and as they leave the courtroom, they are abducted by masked federal agents, he said. “Many of them not wearing uniforms or badges. With what’s, let’s be clear, no legal basis for the abduction.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have stepped up efforts to reel in illegal immigrants in keeping with President Trump’s campaign promise, including in sanctuary cities such as New York.
ICE agents have popped up at Manhattan immigration hearings to round up the migrants.
The raids and others across the country have sparked widespread unrest, including massive demonstrations in Los Angeles that led to riots and prompted Trump to send in National Guard troops.
Last month, Lander was manhandled and handcuffed by ICE agents in Manhattan federal court when he tried to intervene in the arrest of a migrant leaving immigration court.
Williams, a frequent and vocal critic of Mayor Eric Adams, chided City Hall for not taking a stronger stance against ICE.
“The fact that [ICE has] now increased their budget by 500%, everyone should be terrified about what is happening in that courtroom,” the public advocate said.
“And everyone should be doing everything they can to stop it,” he added. “We are in a city where the so-called mayor is not saying anything about it. It’s happening in this city, in his city.”
Officials in the mayor’s office did not respond to a Post request for comment.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
