{"id":6246,"date":"2026-05-14T17:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=6246"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:31:48","slug":"this-court-became-a-symbol-of-trumps-immigration-crackdown-now-its-at-the-center-of-a-house-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=6246","title":{"rendered":"This court became a symbol of Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown. Now it\u2019s at the center of a House race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A federal immigration court in Lower Manhattan has come to represent the Trump administration\u2019s deportation campaign in New York City, with agents carrying out chaotic and sometimes violent arrests in the hallway as migrants leave hearings.<\/p>

Read more Over 40% of Sudan\u2019s population faces high levels of acute food insecurity, monitoring group warns<\/a><\/p>\n

Now the court is serving as a front in a different kind of battle: one of the city\u2019s most closely watched congressional races.<\/p>\n

In the Democratic primary between incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman and former city Comptroller Brad Lander \u2014 for a district so solidly blue that the June primary is considered its deciding election \u2014 both candidates have made the Trump administration\u2019s treatment of migrants at 26 Federal Plaza a feature of their campaigns, but with decidedly different approaches.<\/p>\n

Goldman \u2014 an heir to the Levi Strauss denim fortune and former prosecutor who was lead counsel for President Donald Trump\u2019s first impeachment \u2014 has approached the topic with a lawyerly bent that leverages the power of his office.<\/p>\n

He sued the administration to open immigration detention centers to members of Congress, conducts oversight visits and turned his office across the street into what he\u2019s called a triage center that connects immigrants with advocacy groups and legal services.<\/p>\n

After a recent visit, Goldman credited his oversight work as a reason conditions at a holding facility inside the building have improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you see from our multipronged approach is the way that I push back, which is not performative, but it is substantive,\u201d he told The Associated Press outside 26 Federal Plaza after he toured the detention center that is closed to the public.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Lander \u2014 a progressive city government stalwart who is running with the support of Mayor Zohran Mamdani \u2014 has acted as protester and court observer, watching hearings and attempting to accompany immigrants out of the building past masked federal agents.<\/p>\n

His efforts have gotten him arrested twice, the most recent headed to a trial scheduled to take place just before the primary.<\/p>

Read more Young adults own just 11% of Los Angeles-OC homes, a national low<\/a><\/p>\n