NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani on Monday demanded that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stop using city-owned parking lots to stage immigration enforcement operations, warning that the city will take legal action if the practice continues.
In a Nov. 2 letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella and ICE New York Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo, Mamdani said the city has not authorized ICE to use municipal property for immigration enforcement and described the reported activity as illegal.
“We are deeply troubled by recent reports” of ICE agents using city property to stage enforcement operations, the mayor wrote, adding that continued unauthorized use would prompt New York City to seek legal remedies.
City officials said ICE agents have reportedly parked vehicles and held meetings in unstaffed city-owned lots, including a parking area at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and lots along 111th Street near Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The Queens locations are near a city-run preschool and several cultural institutions frequented by children and families.
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The mayor called on federal officials to immediately instruct ICE agents not to use city parking lots to stage or conduct enforcement operations.
“Parking lots connected to City parks are reserved for the safe use and enjoyment of New Yorkers and visitors who wish to use our parks,” the letter said. It said ICE’s reported use of those properties amounts to unauthorized activity and demanded that federal officials issue guidance barring such activity.
Mamdani sharpened that warning in a statement released by City Hall.
“ICE has no right to use our property as a base for tearing families apart,” Mamdani said. “Today, I’m telling DHS to order its agents off our lots. If they keep coming back, we will see them in court.”
The administration also announced a new policy for New York City Parks frontline employees governing how workers should respond when non-local law enforcement agencies, including ICE, seek access to public or non-public areas of Parks Department property.
The policy is part of the administration’s broader effort under Executive Order 13 to update city agency procedures concerning access to municipal property by outside law enforcement agencies. City officials said training will accompany the new protocols.
Gov. Kathy Hochul backed Mamdani’s action, saying families should not have to fear immigration enforcement while visiting parks or walking through their neighborhoods.
“I am deeply disturbed by reports that ICE is using public property to carry out aggressive immigration enforcement operations,” Hochul said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James also voiced support, saying immigrant communities should be able to feel safe in the city.
“Every person who calls New York City home is a New Yorker, and every one of them deserves to feel safe here,” James said.
The confrontation comes amid growing tensions between New York officials and federal immigration authorities over enforcement activity in and around public spaces.
Earlier, Mamdani and more than 100 elected officials called on private parking garage and lot owners to deny ICE permission to use their properties for enforcement staging. That appeal followed reports that ICE agents had staged operations from a private lot near Marble Hill before an encounter in which Oscar Belgal was shot while his 5-year-old son was in the car.
New York City Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said the federal government has now been formally notified of the city’s position.
“Now that the Department of Homeland Security is clearly on notice regarding its unauthorized use of city lots, there is no excuse for continuing to commandeer city property,” Banks said, adding that the city is prepared to go to court if the practice continues.
The mayor’s letter said New York City would continue using “all available lawful means” to protect immigrant communities and ensure residents can use city services and public spaces without fear.