Mamdani pushes to ban ICE from NYC parking lots

(The Center Square) – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is leading an effort to block ICE from using privately owned parking lots as staging areas for immigration enforcement operations in the city. 

In a letter to hundreds of parking lot owners and operators, Mamdani and other top New York Democrats called on them “not to rent, lend or otherwise make their property available” to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their operations. They also urged the business owners to tell the federal agency that it is not authorized to use their facilities.

The signatories, which included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, framed the request as a way for the government, business and community leaders “to come together and show the world what New Yorkers can do” in “solidarity” against the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

“Owners who refuse to take part in these federal civil immigration enforcement operations advance public safety by protecting their own staff and customers, as well as fellow New Yorkers beyond their lots and garages,” they wrote. “They also tell every immigrant New Yorker that they are treasured members of this community and that our City welcomes them with open arms. We hope you will stand with us.”

In a Friday statement, Mamdani referenced the recent shooting of a 28-year-old Dominican national in Queens by ICE agents and warned that more immigration enforcement operations in the city could lead to similar incidents.

“Federal agents are turning to private parking lots, including a lot just blocks from where they shot Mr. Belgal,” Mamdani said. “I am asking every garage and lot owner in this city to stop giving them that option. Do not rent your property to ICE. Do not lend it to them. Tell them they are not welcome.”

But the Department of Homeland Security dismissed Mamdani’s letter and said efforts to block ICE from using parking lots in the city won’t stop the federal government’s deportation operations.

“Mayor Mamdani should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC since he won’t,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Luckily, no terminated parking will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make New York safe again.”

New York Democrats have been pressing ICE to end its operations in the state after the shooting death of Oscar Beldal, who was shot by an ICE agent Oct. 8 during an operation in the Marble Hill neighborhood of Queens.

Federal agents said Belgal, who was being sought on an immigration detainer, was an “illegal immigrant” with a lengthy criminal history and previous run-ins with police who attempted to flee when they approached his vehicle. A five-year-old child was in the car at the time it was uninjured.

DHS blamed New York’s “sanctuary” policies that restrict cooperation with federal immigration agents, which it said forces ICE agents to seek suspects in the community rather than when they are apprehended on local crimes.

But the shooting prompted protests and demands from Mamdani and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for ICE to end its immigration enforcement operations and leave the city.

New York City has been a target for the Trump administration’s deportation efforts in response to the state’s newly minted ‘sanctuary’ policies restricting cooperation with immigration crackdowns. In August, a multi-agency operation titled “rotten apple” resulted in the apprehension of dozens of “illegal aliens” previously charged with murder, rape, assault, and other violent crimes, the agency said.

While New York City’s sanctuary laws already bar ICE from using city-owned property as staging areas with their operations, those restrictions don’t apply to private commercial parking lots and garages, prompting the city to call on private operators not to cooperate with federal authorities.

“In solidarity with immigrant New Yorkers and in our shared commitment to the city we love, we ask that you do not rent, lend, or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations,” Mamdani and other Democrats wrote in the letter. “Make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots.”