Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatens legal action against federal immigration authorities after receiving reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are using city-owned parking lots in the Bronx and Queens as meeting points to organize immigration operations.
In a letter sent on Monday, Mamdani demanded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately order its agents to stop using municipal properties to carry out unauthorized immigration operations. He warned that New York City will go to court if these activities continue.
His administration on Monday also announced new guidelines for Parks Department employees who encounter federal agents on city property.
The warning comes after reports of ICE agents parking their vehicles and holding meetings on unmanned city grounds in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and in a parking lot on 111th Street at the west end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.
The Queens parking lots are adjacent to a city-run preschool and several cultural institutions frequented by children. According to the mayor’s letter, ICE never received municipal authorization to use those properties for immigration control purposes.
«ICE does not have the right to use our properties as a base to separate families. This applies to all city-owned parks and parking lots. Unauthorized use of municipal properties must end now,” Mamdani stated. «Today I am demanding that DHS order its agents to leave our parking lots. “If they keep coming back, we’ll see each other in court.”
The letter, addressed to Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin; to the acting director of ICE, David Venturella; and the director of the ICE field office in New York, Kenneth Genalo, demands that federal authorities issue instructions that expressly prohibit their agents from using municipal parking lots to organize or carry out immigration control operations.
Under an executive order Mamdani signed in February, non-city law enforcement officers are prohibited from using municipal parking lots as bases of operations without a court order or other legal exception that allows it.
“Parking lots linked to municipal parks are reserved for the safe use and enjoyment of New Yorkers and visitors who wish to use our parks,” Mamdani wrote. «The use of these parking lots for other purposes, including the use that ICE is allegedly giving them, constitutes unauthorized activity on municipal properties. Therefore, they must immediately issue instructions prohibiting their agents from using any municipal parking lot to organize or carry out immigration control operations.
The city’s chief attorney, Steven Banks, said the administration is prepared to take the case to court if these activities do not stop.
“Now that the Department of Homeland Security has been clearly notified about the unauthorized use of municipal parking lots, there is no excuse to continue taking city property. “We are prepared to go to court if this situation does not end,” Banks stated.
DHS rejected the city’s legal arguments and maintained that ICE’s presence in public parking lots is authorized by federal law.
“ICE’s presence in public parking lots is fully authorized by federal law and is standard practice among law enforcement agencies across the country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Our message remains the same: ICE will NOT reduce its operations.”
The spokesperson also lashed out at Mamdani, stating that the mayor “should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC, since he doesn’t.” Additionally, he urged the city to cooperate with ICE.
Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Mamdani said he has spoken directly with President Donald Trump about immigration enforcement operations and described ICE as one of the main points of political disagreement between the two.
«We have spoken directly about ICE. That is one of the clearest examples of our deep political differences, and that conversation will continue,” Mamdani said.
Asked if he would raise ICE’s continued use of municipal parking lots with Trump, the mayor responded that the issue will continue to be part of their conversations.
Monday’s letter comes less than three weeks after Mamdani and more than 100 elected officials asked owners of private parking lots and garages to deny ICE access to their facilities, following the shooting of a man by federal immigration agents in Marble Hill.
The man was shot while his 5-year-old son was inside the car. Federal agents had reportedly been organizing their operations from a nearby private parking lot.
At the time, Mamdani stated that city laws already prohibited ICE from using city property as bases of operations and urged private property owners to stop offering agents places to meet.
New instructions from Mamdani for Parks Department employees
The Mamdani administration also established new procedures for Parks Department employees on how to respond when federal agents request access to city property, including parking lots and park areas that are not open to the public.
Under the new rules, employees must request identification from federal agents attempting to enter restricted areas and contact the department’s general counsel’s office. If officers file a warrant, workers must send it to agency attorneys for review, rather than determining whether it is valid on their own.
Without a valid court order or other appropriate legal authorization, employees are instructed not to allow officers to enter restricted areas. If officers trespass, workers should call 911 and document the encounter whenever they can do so without putting themselves at risk. They are also instructed not to confront the officers, either physically or verbally.
Asked Monday if the new requirements put too much pressure on Parks employees, who might have to question ICE agents with their faces covered, Mamdani defended the measure, describing city workers as the “first line of defense” for New Yorkers, especially immigrants.
The mayor said employees have been given instructions on how to respond and who to call, so they don’t have to face encounters with federal agents alone.
District Council 37, the union that represents many Parks Department workers, expressed support for the administration’s initiative.
“We support the mayor’s efforts to train and provide our members with the tools necessary to protect the public from violations committed by non-local law enforcement officers,” said Henry Garrido, the union’s executive director.
The new policy establishes different procedures for public areas. In these spaces, Parks employees must inform their supervisors and agency attorneys if they observe activities by federal authorities. They are also encouraged to document potential staging operations, including the number of officers and vehicles involved, whenever possible and safe.
If federal authorities request permission in advance to use a Parks Department parking lot as a base of operations, the request must be forwarded to the agency’s general counsel, who will decide whether to authorize access.
Employees who do not comply with these standards may face disciplinary action, including suspension or termination.
The guidelines also recommend that, once a meeting with federal immigration agents has concluded, Parks workers provide affected people with information about their rights and the number of the municipal legal assistance line in immigration matters.
