New York City's chief fiscal officer Brad Lander, who was arrested two months ago protesting conditions at an immigration holding facility, chose Tuesday to go to trial on a misdemeanor obstruction charge rather than accept a deal that would have made the case go away in six months.

“I want a trial,” said Lander, the city's comptroller and an ally of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani .

He spoke after emerging from a federal courtroom in Manhattan, where he'd waited to hear what action authorities would take over his Sept. 18 protest alongside several lawmakers. He vowed to keep protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and said a trial would “bring to light” what federal authorities are doing.

It's not the first time Lander, a liberal Democrat who ran for mayor thi

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