Brad Lander

Jewish communal leader among victims in Manhattan mass shooting - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Wesley LePatner was killed along with four other people in a shooting at an office building in NYC.

I am also thinking of the other victims, including Wesley LePatner—a Jewish community leader and UJA board member.

My prayers are with their families. May their memories be a blessing.

My heart breaks for Officer Didarul Islam's wife, family, and Bengali community.

This horrific mass shooting with a semi-automatic assault weapon is yet another tragic reminder that the US must do more to end senseless gun violence.

I am devastated to learn about the shooting in Midtown and am keeping the victims, their families, and all those affected in my thoughts.

Grateful to the first responders who quickly and bravely answered the call this evening.

Headed to the Pacific NW for a week’s vacation — and as great as this place is, I won’t be spending it here.

Have a great week, everyone.

If you’re looking for a place to do it, join @israelispeaceny on Sundays at 5pm in Union Sq – where we cry out for a ceasefire & the return of the hostages, hold up pictures of those killed in Gaza, read the words of hostage families, and pray for an end to starvation & war.

Opinion | Why American Jews No Longer Understand One Another

That’s esp true for those of us committed to the vision of Israel as a Jewish & democratic state. 

It’s not easy to see a path forward toward that future, per @ezraklein.bsky.social

At the very least, it requires speaking up against mass starvation.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/o...

In the not-so-distant future, Israel will have to reckon with its war crimes in Gaza | Opinion ***

If you believe all human beings are created b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s image, then you must speak up now against the daily atrocities in Gaza.

www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025...

Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders? A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.

The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God.

Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...

Y’day @JumaaneWilliams & I demanded the Mayor send Bldg/Fire inspectors into 26 Federal Pl to address illegal & unsafe conditions.

Today, he sent a weak letter to GSA—the first time I remember him even questioning Trump.

Mayor, you know NYC laws are being violated. Send inspectors, not a letter.

How you know you were a good Comptroller!

(Also, stay tuned for our FY26 pension fund returns, coming soon)

If you don’t think the rule of law is on the line, you aren’t paying attention.

Facing pressure from all sides, ICE gets a windfall of cash to ramp up enforcement | CNN Politics The Trump administration is preparing for a historic infusion of cash into the president’s sweeping mass deportation campaign that is expected to supercharge immigration enforcement nationwide—and lik...

If we refuse, Trump and Honan and Noem are threatening to occupy our communities with federal agents, thanks to the MAGA Congress authorizing $75 billion for the largest federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history.

www.cnn.com/2025/07/20/p...

NYC Immigration Arrests Just Shot Through the Roof, New Data Shows Newly obtained federal records offer the clearest picture yet of how aggressively the Trump administration has pursued its mass deportation agenda — with a sixfold increase in arrests in early June.

And the percentage is probably even lower now, as ICE ratchets up arrests and expedited removals, as @thecity.nyc documented last week:

www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/14/i...

Trump administration confirms it calls all undocumented immigrants "criminals" Suspected undocumented immigrants face civil not criminal penalties

According to an Axios review of government data, fewer than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts last year alleged crimes other than entering the US without documentation.

www.axios.com/2025/01/28/t...

ICE Warns Undocumented Migrants Will Be Arrested, Regardless of Criminal Record “One difference you'll see now,” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons told CBS News, “is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration...

Let’s be clear what Trump/Honan/Noem are doing with their threat to “flood the zone.”

They are demanding that NYC render people who HAVE NOT BEEN CONVICTED OF A CRIME over to ICE for internment in their concentration camp or deportation, without due process.

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/i...

Thanks so much @asadfromnyc.bsky.social for the great tour yesterday! And to my so. Marek for arranging this excellent birthday present.

Loved learning more about the history of our neighbors & neighborhoods. Was delicious, too!

YouTube video by Brad Lander for NYC Building a broad coalition of fighters

The line right now for Democrats isn’t between progressives and moderates.

It’s between fighters and folders. Building a broad coalition of fighters in the era of Trump is how we win.

For my first submission to @literaryhub.bsky.social I feel pretty good about a B+.

(But I also felt good about coming in 3rd with 11% of the vote, so it may be that I’m falling victim to the era of grade inflation).

‘It’s a Miracle’: Queens High Schooler Detained for Weeks in Louisiana After ICE Courthouse Arrest Reunites with Family Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema, 20, arrived at the Port Authority bus terminal early Wednesday morning after a federal judge ordered her release from ICE custody.

Finally, if you need to remember why this fight is worth it, check out this gorgeous story by @gwynnefitz.bsky.social about Queens HS student Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema, who was reunited with her family on Wednesday, after three weeks in ICE detention in Louisiana.
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/16/q...

If you want to hear it from a former ICE prosecutor, rather than from immigration advocates, or from me: thehill.com/opinion/immi...

In fact, their actions are intended to prevent him from complying with the judge’s order, and are therefore IMHO a violation of the convention against torture.

In Carlos’ case, the judge had just granted him an asylum hearing, citing the global convention against torture. So the ICE agents who violently grabbed him when he left the courtroom had no legal basis: whatever list or warrant they were operating from was issued before the judge’s order.

Unlawful ICE Arrests at Immigration Courthouses Prompt Lawsuit by Advocates and Immigrants - National Immigrant Justice Center WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2025) — Immigrants and their legal advocates are suing to stop unlawful Trump administration policies that have resulted in the

The lawsuit brought by @NIJC @raicestexas aims to stop these courthouse arrests – which are utterly unlawful.

immigrantjustice.org/press-releas...

Immigrants File Class-Action Lawsuit to Stop ICE Courthouse Arrests

Legal service groups filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump admin’s brownshirted campaign to arrest people at immigration courthouses – people like Carlos Lopez, a Queens resident & asylum-seeker from Paraguay who I was with when ICE abducted him yesterday. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/n...

After mismanaging the MTA for 10+ years as Governor, Andrew Cuomo would now like to mismanage it as Mayor.

I just left the Everglades Immigrant Interment Camp. No, I’m not using their ridiculous name. It was a very tough to witness humans in those cages. Every Floridian should be ashamed that our taxpayer money is being used for this.

How it started: Yesterday, we joined investors demanding that Tesla follow the law and schedule their annual general meeting (AGM).

How it’s going: Today, they announced the AGM.

Even the world’s richest many and his companies have to follow the rules.

comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/sta...

Listen to host Georgia Levenson Keohane speak w/ @bradlander.bsky.social, NYC Comptroller + recent Mayoral candidate, about prudent + responsible investment, inclusive economic growth, + NYC's future.

business.columbia.edu/socialenterp...

“Secret police” are your words, not mine. Seems like you’ve been giving them a lot of thought.

Unlike NYPD, your agents don’t identify themselves & wear masks that cover their faces. Now they ignore judges’ rulings, too.

What law enforcement agents are supposed to uphold … is the rule of law.

This is Yasir. He’s 21 yo. He fled Sudan after he was kidnapped & tortured by the RSF.

Thx to his legal team @Door_NYC he walked out of his ICE check-in today (unlike too many others).

The best of birthday presents to have been there to meet him. Amazing what a New Yorker he’s already becoming.