Mamdani Threatens Trump Admin With Legal Action Over ICE’s Use of Parking Lots

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday threatened the Trump administration with legal action over federal immigration agents’ use of city parking lots to stage raids, which the Democratic elected official said amounted to “unlawful commandeering” of public property.

“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 in a letter addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) acting director, David Venturella.

Mamdani’s letter notes that ICE agents have “reportedly parked their vehicles and conducted meetings in several city-owned, unstaffed parking lots” — including ones near a park and a city-run preschool.

“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. 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’s letter comes weeks after a plainclothes ICE agent shot a Dominican immigrant in the Bronx while his 5-year-old son was in the car, infuriating community members and intensifying pressure on the mayor to do everything in his power to remove the rogue agency from New York City.

“We know that ICE is rotten to its core,” Mamdani said after the shooting. The mayor has called on President Donald Trump to end all ICE operations in New York City and has demanded abolition of the agency, saying it is “making a mockery of what law and order is supposed to be.”

In mid-October, Mamdani and more than 100 other elected New York officials called on private parking lot owners to bar ICE agents from using their property.

“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,” reads the October 16 letter. “Make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots.”