Mayor Zohran Mamdani is threatening to sue the Trump administration after reports surfaced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been using city-owned parking lots to stage immigration operations without the city’s permission.
In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David Venturella and ICE New York field office Director Kenneth Genalo, Mamdani said he was “deeply troubled” by reports that agents were “using property owned by the City of New York to stage enforcement operations.”
“This use of City property in furtherance of federal immigration enforcement is unauthorized and is therefore illegal, endangers City residents, and sows fear among those who seek to access City property,” Mamdani wrote. “If your agents continue any unauthorized use of these lots, New York City will take legal action to prevent this unlawful commandeering of City property.”
According to the letter, ICE agents have reportedly parked vehicles and held meetings in several unstaffed, city-owned lots. Those locations include a lot at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and lots along 111th Street on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, near a city-run preschool and several cultural institutions that see hundreds of children and families pass through daily.
“ICE has not secured any authorization from the City to use these lots for immigration enforcement. To be clear: the City does not authorize ICE using its property in this manner,” Mamdani wrote.
“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,” he continued. “Use of these lots for other purposes, including ICE’s reported use of these lots, amounts to unauthorized activity on City property. Accordingly, you must immediately issue guidance to your agents prohibiting them from using any City lots to stage or conduct enforcement operations.”
Mamdani said the city “deeply values its immigrant communities and will continue to use all available lawful means to ensure their safety, well-being, and ability to navigate the City and its resources without fear.”
Earlier push on private lots
The letter follows an effort last month by Mamdani and other New York Democratic officials urging owners of private parking lots in the city not to let ICE use their properties as staging grounds. More than 100 elected officials, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, signed onto that letter.
Mamdani has repeatedly called for ICE to be abolished, including after an ICE agent shot and killed Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July, and after another agent shot and wounded Dominican national Oscar Belgal during an enforcement operation in New York City last month.
