Mamdani Demands ICE Stop Using City Parking Lots, Threatens Legal Action
An entrance to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, one of the New York City-owned properties where federal immigration agents reportedly staged enforcement operations. (Photo: Anthony22 / CC BY-SA 3.0)
NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday demanded that federal immigration agents stop using New York City-owned parking lots to stage enforcement operations, warning that the city would take legal action if the activity continues.
In a Nov. 2 letter to Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, Mamdani said agents had reportedly parked vehicles and held meetings at unstaffed city-owned lots in the Bronx and Queens without authorization. He described the use of the properties as illegal and demanded that ICE issue instructions prohibiting agents from staging or conducting enforcement operations at city-owned parking lots.
“ICE has no right to use our property as a base for tearing families apart. That goes for every park and every lot this City owns,” Mamdani said in a statement released by his office. “Today, I’m telling DHS to order its agents off our lots. If they keep coming back, we will see them in court.”
The letter identified a parking lot at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and several lots along 111th Street on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The Queens locations are adjacent to a city-run preschool and cultural institutions that children visit daily, 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,” the letter said.
The letter was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David J. Venturella and Kenneth Genalo, director of ICE’s New York field office. It did not establish a deadline for compliance or specify when the city might file a lawsuit.
The mayor’s office also announced a new Parks Department policy outlining how frontline employees should respond when outside law enforcement agencies, including ICE, seek access to public and nonpublic areas of city park properties.
According to the announcement, the policy strengthens procedures for employees and will be accompanied by additional training. The administration said the changes are part of its efforts under Executive Order 13 to update city agencies’ policies governing outside law enforcement access to city property.
Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said the city was prepared to take the dispute to court.
“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, and we are prepared to go to court if it does not stop,” Banks said in the statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul backed Mamdani’s demand, saying families should not have to fear that visiting a park or walking through their neighborhoods could result in separation from their loved ones.
“I am deeply disturbed by reports that ICE is using public property to carry out aggressive immigration enforcement operations,” Hochul said.
The announcement follows an Oct. 16 letter in which Mamdani and more than 100 elected officials urged private parking garage and lot owners to deny ICE access to their properties, according to the mayor’s office.
Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura said the new policy would support frontline employees while helping preserve public spaces for residents and visitors.
“Our city parks are our backyard, and both NYC residents and visitors deserve to feel safe when enjoying them,” Shimamura said.