NYC Mayor Mamdani calls on private parking lot owners to bar ICE from their property

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and more than 100 elected officials from across New York state are calling on private parking garage and lot owners to deny U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the use of their property as a staging ground for immigration enforcement operations.

In a letter sent Oct. 16, the officials urged more than a thousand owners and operators not to rent, lend or otherwise make their property available to ICE. They also called on property owners to notify the agency directly that it is not authorized to use their facilities.

The push comes one week after ICE agents surrounded a car on a crowded residential street in Marble Hill and fired multiple rounds at Oscar Belgal, 28, striking him in the neck while his 5-year-old son sat in the vehicle. Agents had reportedly been staging operations from a private parking lot a few blocks away.

“Last week, ICE agents shot a father in the neck in Marble Hill while his 5-year-old son sat in the car,” Mamdani said. “City law already bars ICE from using City property as a base of operations. Federal agents are turning to private parking lots, including a lot just blocks from where they shot Mr. Belgal.”

The Marble Hill incident is not isolated. ICE has also operated out of two bank parking lots on Northern Boulevard in Queens and a garage on Morton Street in Manhattan, officials said. After neighbors spoke up about the Morton Street location, the garage removed ICE vehicles from its property.

City law already prohibits ICE from using city-owned property — including parking garages, schools, shelters and hospitals — as staging areas, processing locations or bases of operations, absent a judicial warrant or a limited legal exception. In February, Mamdani issued Executive Order 13, strengthening protocols governing how city agencies interact with federal immigration authorities. An audit completed in May led to updated city guidance on the issue. Those protections, however, do not extend to private property.

“ICE continues to escalate its attacks on our communities, resulting in immigrant New Yorkers living under constant threat and making our city less safe,” said Faiza N. Ali, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “While our city’s local laws prohibit the use of city-owned properties and lots for federal civil immigration enforcement, including ICE staging, we urge private property owners to do their part to protect immigrant New Yorkers.”

The letter was signed by dozens of city and state politicians, but did not include the signatures of any Staten Island officials.