Left: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by ICE and FBI agents. Right: California Senator Alex Padilla is pushed out of the room as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference.Mother Jones illustration; Olga Fedorova/AP; David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/Getty
Of the many events marking the country’s slide to authoritarianism since Donald Trump returned to power, one of the most significant is the president’s unbridled enthusiasm for using the federal government to go after his perceived political enemies. This retribution campaign, though long promised, has proven sweeping and egregious, targeting everyone from law firms that cross him to the highest levels of the Democratic Party. But the administration has been particularly aggressive about wielding it against opponents of Trump’s other signature initiative—his mass-deportation policy. The result: a shocking series of Democratic lawmakers and other public officials who have been detained, arrested, and even prosecuted by the feds. Here’s a timeline.
April 25: Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan
The FBI arrested Dugan for allegedly obstructing federal agents who were detaining an undocumented immigrant. According to federal prosecutors, Dugan allegedly helped the man flee from her courtroom, where he had been previously scheduled to appear, after Dugan was informed that ICE agents were present. She has pleaded not guilty. Her attorneys have decried Dugan’s arrest as “unprecedented” and “entirely unconstitutional.”
May 9: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
Baraka, who at the time was also New Jersey Democratic primary for governor, was arrested and detained by federal immigration officers in May during a protest and attempted congressional inspection of an immigration detention center in Newark. The trespassing charge against him was eventually dropped, and Baraka has since sued Alina Habba, the interim US attorney for New Jersey. We recently spoke to Baraka about his arrest:
The irony is that they keep saying that we tried to get arrested. Well, you don’t have to try to get arrested. They were itching to do that from the very sight of me.
These people violated my rights, and, more importantly, they violated the constitution of this country. They think they can do it arbitrarily, and nobody should say anything about it. So I don’t agree with that. I think somebody should say something about it.
May 19: Rep. LaMonica McIver
The New Jersey Democratic congresswoman was subsequently charged in connection with the May 9 incident in Newark. But unlike Baraka, the allegations against her have not been dropped. She was formally indicted last week on charges of impeding and interfering with law enforcement officials during a congressional oversight visit. As I wrote recently, the charges, which carry a maximum of 17 years in prison, come despite shifting explanations from the Trump administration about what led to McIver’s arrest.
June 12: Sen. Alex Padilla
In a shocking moment that drew intense criticism, the senior US senator from California was detained after attempting to approach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference with questions about the administration’s immigration policies. The Department of Homeland Security accused Padilla, a Democrat, of failing to identify himself. But as I wrote, multiple videos showed Padilla doing exactly that before at least four men are seen forcibly pushing Padilla out of the room before handcuffing him. Padilla has not been charged with any crimes.
June 17: Brad Lander
On Tuesday, Lander—one of the major candidates in New York’s Democratic primary for mayor and the city’s current comptroller—was detained by law enforcement officials while attempting to escort a man out of an immigration court building. “I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” Lander told the agents while holding on to the man they were apparently arresting. “Where is it? Where is the warrant?”
The Department of Homeland Security quickly accused Lander of “assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.”
