The board of the Four Freedoms Democratic Club unanimously and strongly condemns the detention of Comptroller Brad Lander, Sen. Alex Padilla, and other Democratic officials exercising their First Amendment rights. We agree with our borough president, Mark Levine: this is authoritarianism.  Federal agents from ICE and DHS are waging an unlawful war on immigrant communities across the country, and the Trump administration is attempting to cow brave Americans into silence. We will never remain silent and we will never stop supporting candidates like Brad who do the right thing regardless of the personal consequences.