New York City Comptroller and Democratic candidate for mayor, had come to observe - and to accompany. When he silently reached for the arm of a migrant whose hearing had just ended and began to walk with him out of the courtroom, he was overwhelmed and arrested by several federal agents. The charge: obstruction of an operation. His wife, Meg Barnette, who was with him, was pushed aside. "What I witnessed was not the enforcement of law, but the deliberate intimidation of a person showing compassion," she said later at a press conference.
Lander himself protested in the moment of his arrest. "I'm just standing here in the hallway! I'm not obstructing anyone!" he called out to the masked agents. "You are not allowed to arrest U.S. citizens just for asking for a judicial warrant." But his words faded away - not for legal reasons, but for political intent. It was not the act itself, but its symbolism that was punished. The mere gesture of physically approaching a person in need was apparently enough to be considered interference with enforcement. In a country where criminal law is increasingly used as a tool of political intimidation, even gestures of solidarity are now being criminalized.
Lander's arrest does not stand alone. As early as May, the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested under similar circumstances, as was Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, who had positioned herself protectively in front of him. While no charges were later brought against Baraka, McIver continues to face prosecution. In Lander's case as well, there is still no judicial order - only the action taken by federal agents without any visible legal basis. The silence of the authorities is deafening. And the message is unmistakable: anyone who shows humanity stands against the state.
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