NEW YORK (AP) — A federal immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan has become emblematic of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts in New York City, where federal agents have conducted disorderly and sometimes forceful detentions in corridors as immigrants exit their court proceedings.
The courthouse has now emerged as a central battleground in a completely different type of conflict: one of the city’s most intensely monitored congressional contests.
In the Democratic primary featuring sitting U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman against former city Comptroller Brad Lander — competing for a district so reliably Democratic that the June primary essentially determines the winner — both contenders have highlighted the Trump administration’s handling of immigrants at 26 Federal Plaza in their campaigns, though using markedly different strategies.
Goldman — who inherited wealth from the Levi Strauss denim empire and previously served as a prosecutor, acting as lead counsel during President Donald Trump’s initial impeachment — has tackled the issue with a legal-focused strategy that utilizes his congressional authority.
He filed lawsuits against the administration to force immigration detention facilities to allow congressional access, performs oversight inspections and transformed his office located across the street into what he describes as a triage center linking immigrants with advocacy organizations and legal assistance.
Following a recent inspection, Goldman attributed improvements in conditions at a detention facility within the building to his oversight efforts.
“What you see from our multipronged approach is the way that I push back, which is not performative, but it is substantive,” he told The Associated Press outside 26 Federal Plaza after touring the detention center that remains off-limits to the public.
In contrast, Lander — a progressive city government veteran who is campaigning with backing from Mayor Zohran Mamdani — has positioned himself as a demonstrator and court monitor, observing proceedings and trying to escort immigrants from the building past masked federal agents.
His activism has resulted in two arrests, with the most recent case scheduled for trial just days before the primary.
“I would characterize his oversight function as strongly worded letters,” Lander told AP regarding Goldman’s methods. “And my oversight function is: Show up with hundreds of your neighbors and bear witness and accompany people and demand access and stay until they give it to you or they arrest you.”
Lander’s initial arrest occurred last year when he locked arms with an individual that authorities were trying to apprehend in the corridor outside the courtroom. Lander was seeking the mayor’s office at that time, and the arrest energized his campaign during a period when Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo were viewed as the leading candidates in the race.
Several months afterward, following his defeat in the mayoral primary but shortly before beginning his congressional bid, Lander faced arrest again during a major demonstration at the building and received a misdemeanor obstruction charge.
Rather than accepting a plea agreement that would have resolved the case within six months, Lander chose to proceed to trial. He argued the case would reveal information about the federal government’s immigration enforcement activities at the facility.
Goldman characterized Lander’s actions as performative.
“I don’t understand why someone would reject a dismissal of a case so that he can have a public trial, ostensibly to ask for information that I could provide him whenever he wanted because I have the answers from doing my oversight,” Goldman said.
This week, Lander visited 26 Federal Plaza again to observe hearings. However, just before entering the facility, his staff learned that federal agents were waiting outside an immigration hearing at a separate federal courtroom in a building across the street. He hurried over and eventually located the agents, who were wearing masks and standing around in the court’s waiting area.
“The challenge is trying to figure out who they’re going to arrest,” Lander said, stepping out of the hearing, where he had been seated in a back row taking notes. Eventually, the agents left the hearing room, walked down a corridor and departed the floor. Their reason for leaving remained unclear.
“Maybe we have different styles,” Lander said about his opponent after the agents left. He subsequently returned across the street and recorded a campaign video in front of 26 Federal Plaza.
